The Aftermath
by Hikari Houou
Summary: Yuzuru and Kanade find themselves back in the real world after leaving the afterlife. But is all really as it seems? Life is not a bed of roses even after their previous battles.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Angel Beats and its characters are copyright of their respective owners. I do not claim to own anything here except the storyline and new characters I made up for it.

Overview: This story takes place right after the end of the 13th episode where Yuzuru supposedly sees Kanade on the street and tries to make contact with her. This story is my vision of what could happen immediately after that. Yuzuru x Kanade, may add other character pairings later. Constructive criticism much appreciated.

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><p><strong>Chapter 1<strong>  
><strong>Otonashi Yuzuru<strong>

I open my eyes to the bright rays of the morning sun shining through my bedroom window. As the light floods my senses, the last images from the dream I was having slowly slips away.

"Strange," I thought. "Such an unusual dream, but why does it feel so familiar to me?"

I dreamt that I had died, and I went to another school apparently in the afterlife where I met a group of student rebels whose goal was to fight against the will of God for giving them such unjust lives. Somehow I ended up joining their fight as well. It seems absurd, but why do I feel such an attachment to it? I feel like I know those rebels somehow.

But the thing bothering me the most is that girl. The one I met yesterday. I saw her while walking down the street, a small girl with a very petite build. She was wearing a white one piece dress and a light blue jacket, with a hat sitting on beautiful silver hair, leaning against a wall and looking at the ground. She carried a white handbag with pink designs and green straps. I couldn't see her face, but I remember her so vividly. As I walked by her, I was suddenly struck with a strange feeling that I knew her from somewhere. I turned back and chased after her as she walked away. Just as I reached out for her shoulder, I came to my senses and quickly withdrew my hand, walking back in the opposite direction. What was I doing? Why did I suddenly think that I knew her? It felt like my body had moved of its own accord, as if in a dream.

I didn't think much of the incident after that, and went through the rest of the day as normal. But now, this feeling of familiarity with the dream world and the student rebels, is almost identical to the feeling I had when I met the girl yesterday. And this time, that feeling isn't fading. I feel almost certain that I know them, both the rebels and the girl. Yet, why don't I remember any details? I feel like I'm missing something important.

"Argh, this isn't getting me anywhere! Anyway, I'd better get changed and head out to school."

Jumping out of bed, I go through my usual morning routine and put on my new high school uniform. Going downstairs, I grab a quick breakfast of bread and jam, pick up my bag, and head out the door.

"I'm leaving!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**  
><strong>Tachibana Kanade<strong>

Hello, Tachibana Kanade here. Today is the first day of the new semester at high school. As usual, I woke up early so I have plenty of time to prepare for the entrance ceremony. As the new student council president, I'm supposed to give a welcoming speech to the freshmen who are new here. It's really not a big deal, I'm used to this kind of thing already.

I walk into the bathroom and close the door behind me. Looking into the mirror, I see two large golden eyes staring back at me. For a moment, the reflection of light plays a trick and the eyes in the mirror turn brown. In that instant, a face with light brownish-orange hair and a kind smile flashes through my mind. I freeze, eyes wide in shock. Who was that? I don't think I know him, and yet he feels strangely familiar. And haven't I seen that orange hair before? My mind flashes back to the sunny street yesterday.

It was about noon, and I was leaning against a wall listening to music while waiting for my friends' message. It was really hot. When I finally received their mail, I walked towards our arranged meeting place with some relief. It would be so nice to feel the air conditioning of the mall for a change. But, not long after I started walking, I had a sudden feeling someone was following me. I turned around, but noticed nobody suspicious. Yet, one particular figure hurrying in the opposite direction caught my eye. He was wearing a green jacket and dark slacks. There was nothing unusual about him, but I noticed the brownish-orange hair. Not a very common color, I thought.

Even though I didn't see his face back then, somehow I feel quite certain that the face that flashed through my mind just now belonged to that man yesterday. Even more strangely, I am overcome with the feeling that I've met him before, that he is somehow important to me. Yet, I cannot recall who he is or how I'm related to him.

Snapping back to the present, I look at my watch in horror and shake myself out of my daydream. I hurriedly wash my face and tie my hair. There goes my extra time from waking up early. How uncharacteristic of me. I go out to the dining room for breakfast, going through my speech in my head. Good, I should be fine with what I have now. I finish breakfast at a leisurely pace; I still don't have to worry about being late at the rate I'm going.

After I recheck to make sure that I have everything I need, I pick up my bag and head out for school. Despite that little unexpected delay in the bathroom, somehow I have the feeling that today is going to be a great day.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3  
>Otonashi Yuzuru<strong>

At the school entrance, I notice crowds of younger students congregating towards the main hall. A sign saying "Welcome, new students" stands at the gate. Oh right, today is also the day of the entrance ceremony for freshmen. It seems so soon, but I'm already a senior. In less than a year, I'll be the one heading to the hall for the graduation ceremony. I wonder what it will feel like by then, to leave the high school I've been to for three years. I'm not particularly attached to it, not having had any outstanding experiences here. The only thing I've been certain about is that I want to become a doctor, and I've been working towards that goal without being very active in other school clubs. All for the sake of my sister, Hatsune.

As I turn towards the direction of my classroom for homeroom, a familiar flash of silver catches my eye through the sea of students. I quickly turn around for a better look. Could it be? I search among the crowd, and finally catch sight of a girl just entering the main hall, her beautiful silver hair tied up in a ponytail. That petite frame looked all too familiar to me. Could the girl from yesterday actually be in the same school as I am? If so, why hadn't I noticed her before? I'm overcome with the urge to chase after her and take a good look at her face, but she had disappeared into the hall, and one look at the clock on the main school building told me that I was going to be late for homeroom. Reluctantly, I continue towards my classroom, my head filled with questions about the girl. Why was she at the entrance ceremony? Could she be a freshman? That would explain why I haven't seen her before.

I arrive in class just as homeroom is starting. After that, I just breeze through the morning classes. I don't pay special attention to a particular class, but I don't slack off on any of them either. I guess I'm just your regular, ordinary student.

"But not as ordinary as Ooyama," I thought to myself, amused.

Wait, what was that? Ooyama? The name just popped up in my mind unannounced. But who is that? Another unknown name that nevertheless sounds so familiar to me. This time it just popped right out of my own mind, for goodness' sake. This is getting strange. It can't be a coincidence that two unknown-yet-familiar people have suddenly popped into my life in the span of two days. I can understand if I see somebody on the street that seems familiar but can't remember, but having a name pop out of nowhere from the depths of my mind? Impossible. With that, and my feeling of familiarity with a mere dream I had, I'm quite sure something is going on somehow.

Feeling overwhelmed, I decide to go out into the grounds and have a walk to clear my head. It's a good thing that it's lunch break now. This is just too much to absorb. It's just too surreal. Maybe I'm still in a dream. Hah, wouldn't that make things so much easier. I pinch myself just to make sure. The jolt of pain that shoots through my arm makes me wince and dashes my hopes of still being in a dream. So much for an easy way out.

I reach my favorite spot, a small corner next to one of the classroom buildings usually devoid of students. I usually come here whenever I want some private time to myself. Although I'm in no way an introvert, there are times when I would like nothing better than to be able to think or simply to relax without the bustle of the other students.

I sit down on one of the benches there, lean back, and close my eyes, letting the cool breeze wash over me. Ahh, this feels good. It doesn't matter why or how I keep remembering unfamiliar people for now, I need to treasure the remaining time of lunch break and completely clear my mind.

Suddenly, I feel a presence in the vicinity. I can't really explain it, it's as if there's a malicious intent standing right next to me, targeting me. My eyes snap open and I'm instantly on my feet, scanning my surroundings for the source of that intent.

It doesn't take much effort to find it. It's not as if he's even trying to hide. There he is, standing just a short distance off to the side of the bench, a tall slender man with long dark hair covering his forehead, reaching down to his eyes. He is dressed quite simply, in a dark green polo shirt and brown cargo pants. I don't even have time to wonder how he got into the school grounds because the shiny silver thing that is in his right hand draws all of my attention to it. It has a menacing looking barrel, with black grips held in his still-slack hand. It's obviously a gun, and a powerful-looking one at that.

As my eyes remain affixed on the gun, he tightens his grip on it and raises it towards me in one quick motion. Staring down the gun's barrel, I barely have time to register his eerily blank eyes before I react by instinct, jumping out of the way and landing in a roll. I remember that the janitor's storage room is just around the corner of the building, and I quickly run towards it, hoping to find something that I can use to defend myself with, though I have no idea what I would find in there that could work against a gun.

Rummaging through the many items in there, I finally pick up a simple broom, the only thing there with any reasonable length that is still hard enough to function as a weapon. Turning around, I realize that the man hasn't caught up with me at all. He is still around the corner, shuffling in my general direction, gun held straight, apparently lost. Could it be that he couldn't track my movements just now? His motion was so swift when raising the gun that it took me by surprise, yet why does it seem that his own mobility is handicapped?

I circle as quietly as I can towards his side, hoping to take advantage of what I thought was a lack of capability to track quick movements with his eyes. But as I enter his field of vision, his gun hand immediately snaps in my direction again. I barely have time to register the movement and jump out of the way before I hear a loud bang. Landing in a roll and getting up in a run, I notice a crater in the wall behind where I had been standing just a moment ago. So he doesn't have problems seeing where I am. Even now, the gun is following my every movement, though he hasn't fired again. So does he only fire when he knows he has a clear shot? I can't figure out why his legs seem so sluggish compared to his arms, but I should still be able to use his hesitation to my advantage. I close in on him, running in concentric circles so he never gets a straight shot at me, and swing the broom at his gun arm. It connects, and the gun falls to the ground.

I quickly shove him away so he's out of reach of the gun and unable to attack me with his bare hands should he decide to do so. I look down at the fallen gun for a moment, and in that instant my body seems to move of its own accord again. In one quick movement I scoop up the gun, point it at the man's leg, and pull the trigger. I feel the gun kick back in my hand, and the man collapses to the ground.

As I fully regain my senses, I continue holding the gun, frozen in place in shock. Did I just shoot a gun? And hit my target in a single shot? As far as I know, I've never held a gun before, and yet somehow I just fired a gun with a level of marksmanship that I managed to impress myself with.

Students are beginning to congregate at my location, no doubt drawn by the sound of the gunshots. I finally drop the gun on the ground. One of the students, apparently a student council member judging by the pin on her uniform, takes a quick look around the area and quickly assesses the situation, warning students to stay away. "Somebody get one of the teachers out here! Tell them that a stranger entered the school grounds and attempted an armed attack on one of our students!"

She then turns to me. "Are you alright? I have no idea how things turned out the way they are now, and I'm not sure I personally want to know. Maybe you should come to the student council room for a while, we have first aid kits there in case you need them. I'll go get the principal too."

Still feeling numb, I simply nod and follow her into the main building. I do not feel like I need any first aid, but my mind is filling up with questions once again.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4  
>Tachibana Kanade<strong>

Ah, it's finally lunch break. I stand up and stretch. This feels so much better; somehow the morning was a lot more stressful than usual. Sure, the entrance ceremony went smoothly – nothing went wrong during my speech. However, ever since before I entered the main hall, I've had the uneasy feeling that someone has been watching me. The feeling has come on and off throughout morning classes, and every time, I never noticed anyone suspicious around no matter how hard I looked. Really, how could anyone hide and spy on someone here? This is a school, there's no place to hide.

Anyway, now that it's lunch break, whoever has been spying couldn't make a move even if he wanted to as the crowd would be too large to not draw attention to himself. I can relax for a moment now. I follow the surge of students heading to the cafeteria. It is in this kind of situation that I sometimes feel thankful that I'm a little shorter than the average student as it makes it easier for me to disappear into the crowd.

At the cafeteria, I order my favorite mapo tofu. There is nothing like indulging yourself with your favorite things to soothe the nerves. I still don't quite understand why many people think it's so unusual for me to eat mapo tofu plain. They say it's too spicy. To be honest, I've never really noticed how spicy it is; I really enjoy it.

Halfway through my meal, an announcement came over the school intercom system.

"Would student council president Tachibana-san please come over to the student council room immediately? We have an incident that requires your attention."

I let out a sigh. There goes the rest of my peaceful lunch break. I was hoping that nothing would come up today, but apparently things rarely go the way you would like it to. This is also what would be expected from being the student council president, I suppose, though I don't exactly hate it.

I quickly finish the rest of my food and head towards the student council room. This has to be quite a serious matter if they have to call me over there. Usually anyone who is currently staffing the room would take care of anything that involves the student council at the time. I wonder what could have happened.

Outside the student council room, a student council member is standing and waiting for me. She tells me quickly, "apparently there has been an armed attack with a gun on a student within the school grounds, but somehow the attacker ended up being shot in the leg with his own gun. It seems amazing that the student could have disarmed his opponent and shot him so accurately, but anyway, he seems unharmed and we have brought him inside for the moment." I nodded in acknowledgement. He must be really something if managed to disarm a gun-wielding opponent and shoot him.

I open the student council room door, and immediately freeze, my eyes wide in shock. There, sitting on the couch, is surely the man whose face flashed across my mind just this morning. It cannot be a mistake. That hair, and those eyes. Judging by the similar look of shock that just registered on his face, I can only guess that my appearance is also unexpected to him. Could it be that this is not the first time he has seen me as well? This is getting more unusual by the minute.

I give myself a mental slap and recompose myself. I mustn't let this faze me. I need handle this calmly. First, I need to find out exactly what happened to him, then I'll somehow answer the question of how someone I'm sure I've never seen before ended up surfacing in my mind, and surely by some huge coincidence also happens to be in the same school as I am. And how, if my suspicions are correct, he also happens to recognize me. There has to be more to this than meets the eye.

I sit down on the couch to his right. "Would you like to tell me exactly what happened to you?"

Still giving me a strange look, he said, "To be honest, I'm not very sure how or why it happened myself. I was sitting on the bench at the corner of the courtyard relaxing when I somehow felt a strange presence in the area. When I looked up, I saw this tall, very plainly dressed man with long hair standing to my side. He was holding a gun. He pointed it at me with such speed and accuracy it would seem that he had been trained before. However, as I was running around to avoid giving him a direct shot and looking for things to defend myself with, I noticed that somehow the rest of his body didn't match the quick reflexes he had with the gun. He could barely chase me; his movements were so sluggish. I found a broom in the janitor's closet and took advantage of his hesitation to fire at a moving target to get close and knock the gun out of his hand."

"Wait," I said. "How did he get into the school grounds in the first place? You don't mean to tell me you never noticed him coming and he somehow just appeared next to you?"

"That's exactly what it felt like. I actually had my eyes closed at the time, but I think I would have noticed if someone walked up so close with no one else in the area."

"So even the means he used to get into the grounds is unknown. What about you? You took the gun and shot him with it right? How did you manage to handle the gun so well? Have you had experience with firearms before?"

"Well," he said, scratching his head. "To be honest, I've never even handled a gun before, much less fired one. My body just kind of moved on its own the moment I realized the gun was right within my reach. I just grabbed it and fired at his leg."

Now this is getting out of hand. "So you mean to say that you have had no experience with guns before as well, yet you managed to handle it perfectly and hit a target as narrow as someone's leg from a distance." He nodded.

As I took in all the information, I couldn't help but feel that something didn't add up. For one thing, that attacker doesn't sound like he's a normal person. Can someone with lightning reflexes in his arms be unable to give chase to a high school student, especially if he had training with firearm combat before? And what about this young man? He's supposedly never fired a gun before, yet managed to hit his mark with one shot, which from what I know is harder than it actually looks. Too many unanswered questions.

Speaking of questions, there may be one that I can ask him directly about.

"Hey."

"Huh?" He replied.

"It may sound weird, but, have we met somewhere before?"

He seemed to be surprised by my question. "Actually I have felt that I know you from somewhere for a while now, but I just can't remember where. But how did you..?"

"I also have had this feeling for a while now. But actually this is my first time seeing you in person, yet.." My voice trailed off towards the end of my last sentence. I can't tell him that the only time I've actually seen him was just in my mind's eye.

"Wait, did you just say that this is the first time you've seen me? Then how did you think that I'm familiar before this?

"Never mind, it's nothing. Anyway, it's almost time for class to start already. I'll try to see if I can find out how your attacker got into the grounds in the first place, and I'm curious about his behavior as you described as well, though I don't really know what I can do to find out. Hopefully the teachers have managed to talk to him before the police take him away."

"Thanks a lot, but actually I'm fine with it as long as no one was hurt. Erm.. Tachibana-san was it?"

"Yes."

"What about your given name?"

"Kanade. What about yours?"

"I'm Otonashi Yuzuru. Pleased to meet you."

"Pleased to meet you. Now, we should really head back to class."

"You're right. Well, see you then."

"Bye." I watch as he heads down the hallway. Otonashi Yuzuru. Yuzuru… Strange, now that name really strikes me as familiar. Every nerve in my body is telling me that he is someone I should know, a really important person I shouldn't have forgotten. Yet, my mind just can't recall who he exactly is.

I head back to my classroom, giving myself a mental shake again. I can't let these things worry me too much at the moment. I'll get to the bottom of this... eventually.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5  
><strong>Otonashi Yuzuru

I walk slowly back to my classroom, me head still in a daze. You can't imagine the shock I felt when the very girl I have been chasing walked into the student council room as the president. It was kind of surprising to find out she's the student council president and not a freshman like I thought this morning. I suppose I'll have to pay more attention to what's happening in the school.

Tachibana Kanade. My heart gives an involuntary jolt whenever I think of her name. This feeling of familiarity is far stronger than any of the others I have felt before. I'm almost certain now that I knew her before, but somehow I've almost completely forgotten about her. The question is how, and why?

The questions I've accumulated over the course of the day keep floating through my head as I drift through the rest of the afternoon classes. I can't help thinking that there should be something important linking all these disjointed memories together, and once I find that link, everything would become clear to me again. Come to think of it, Kanade may really be able to help with that. I noticed a flicker of surprise in her eyes the moment she saw me, probably the same one as what I felt when I saw her enter the room. Maybe somehow she recognizes me as well? Something tells me that she is also part of this whole thing, that we share some memories – or lack of them.

Finally, the last bell for the day rings. I breathe a sigh of relief. Finally, I can go home and really relax. Somehow a lot of things have happened today, and I feel more than a little worn out. I smile to myself. Maybe it's because of the unusual amount of thinking I did over the last few hours? Nothing has troubled me so much before, and my mind has been going in circles about the many unexplained occurrences throughout the day.

I pick up my things and slowly walk out of the building. As I step out into the walkway, I hear a voice shouting a short distance away.

"Wait for me, Hinata-senpai!"

I look towards the direction the voice is coming from. A small girl with bright pink hair is running towards a figure silhouetted against the setting sun. I can't really see much detail with the sun in my eyes.

"Ah, Yui, you're finished quite early today as well?"

"That's because I want to walk home with Hinata-senpai again today!" she said, tugging at his arm.

Hinata laughs, while their voices fade as they disappear into the sunset. They look so happy. Somehow I feel glad for them as well; once again not something I should be feeling for just anyone I see. This time, that feeling of familiarity is not as vague as before. I can feel fragmented thoughts and images floating out of reach somewhere at the back of my mind. It's like I know they are there, but they are just out of my reach for the moment.

If this is the case for those two called Yui and Hinata, could it be the same for everyone and everything else I seem to have recalled? I think back to the time the name Ooyama popped into my mind, and that incident where I suddenly knew how to operate a gun. However, those instances are still vague, and I can't begin to grasp the reason they happened yet. It seems like this is the only one where I can have any amount of certainty – the first one since I found out Kanade's name. Maybe that was the catalyst? After all, that was the first time one of these memories struck my emotions, and the first one I was sure did not belong to something my subconscious conjured up.

It is clear that no amount of forcing is going to get me anywhere at the moment. Maybe I should just go home, put everything at the back of my mind, and relax for now. Really a lot has happened in a short amount of time for me to take in. Hopefully things will be clearer tomorrow.

As I approach my house, a flash of movement at the door catches my attention. I catch a glimpse of what seem to be two red eyes through the darkness. Alarmed, I run up to the door and search around the general vicinity for signs of people. I find none. Nothing around the area seems to be disturbed in the slightest. Either it was my imagination or that shadow is extremely good at stealth movements.

I enter the house and, to be safe, ensure that every door and window that directly leads outside is securely locked. I suppose there's nothing much else I can do when I can't even be sure what I thought I saw was real. I collapse on the couch and turn on the television. I've decided to pass the rest of the normally, might as well just go through my usual routine after school. I turn to the news channel.

"We are now at the scene of the accident. Apparently a patient in the ambulance somehow overpowered the personnel and caused them to crash. We have one of them with us at the moment."

I turned the volume up.

"We were called to Akita High School to pick up a patient supposedly involved in an attack on the students there. When we got there, the patient seemed to be unconscious and unresponsive. We couldn't determine how and why, so we decided to bring him in to the hospital for a checkup. Halfway there, he woke up and started attacking us barehanded. He even managed to break through the door separating the driver's cabin from the back. I don't exactly know how it happened, it's all a blur."

I switch the television off. So somehow that person managed to escape. Even though he seemed really slow when he was attacking me, and apparently operated on instinct, he was quick enough to overpower the ambulance personnel and get away, something I never would have expected him to do given how slow he was on his feet. Definitely something unusual is happening.

I sigh. There I go. Just after I decided to take it easy, something else has to happen. Why can't I get a break? It seems like my entire world has been turned upside down in the span of two days. Just what in the world is going on?


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6  
><strong>Tachibana Kanade

I sigh as I look out the student council room window at the setting sun. Who knew I had to stay back to handle paperwork on only the first day of school? I watch as students make their way out of the school gates, some on foot, others on bicycles. Their long shadows thrown by the evening sun stretch across the courtyard, making it look like bands of light are moving by.

It doesn't take long before most of the grounds have become empty. I see two solitary figures making their way towards the school gates. One appears to be a man with blue hair. Probably a sophomore or a senior. The other is a short girl with bright pink hair who appears to be holding his hands. They do seem to be quite close. Somehow, as I look at them, they seem a little familiar to me too, like I have seen them from somewhere before.

As my eyes wander further down the grounds, I catch sight if someone I definitely know. Yuzuru, the one everything started from. He was the one who first appeared to me in my mind and made me recall memories I never knew I had, though to be honest I still can't determine what exactly those memories contain. As of now they are still blurred images, though they have been gradually getting clearer ever since lunch break.

And speaking of mysteries, there is still the one of the attacker during lunch. Apparently there were no witnesses who saw him get into the school grounds, meaning he had to have snuck in during classes when there were fewer people who could have seen the gate, or he had entered in broad daylight without anyone seeing him. Somehow the first seems more likely to me, and yet, it seems strange that someone like that would stay hidden and wait for so long close to somewhere so rarely visited by students. He couldn't have known when Yuzuru would decide to go there either, if he had somehow been targeting Yuzuru in the first place.

What's more, his behavior just didn't seem… human. He seemed to be unconscious when the teachers brought him in. Of course, I went over to see for myself what the attacker looked like. He really did seem to be an unremarkable person, plain and boring; the type you would never particularly notice in a crowd. However, what was unusual was that although he was only shot in the leg, not even sustaining an injury near any vital arteries, he seemed as though he was in a coma. He wouldn't respond to any stimuli. Of course, this shouldn't happen to a normal person. It seemed almost as though he had shut himself down, a kind of hibernation if you will. The paramedics who came said that his heartbeat had slowed almost to a stop. It shouldn't even be enough to keep a person alive. They decided to bring him to the hospital for further examination.

Anyway, it does seem as though this particular case is done with. I don't expect him to be on the loose anytime in the near future. What remains is probably who Yuzuru actually is and how I came to know him. I'm already quite convinced that I knew him at some time in the past, but how and why did I end up forgetting? I don't think this would be a simple question to answer if it really is a case of memory loss. I'd have to take it slowly. If I knew Yuzuru before then he definitely knew me as well, though he did not seem to remember me well. Maybe he has forgotten too? It would be too much of a coincidence if we both forgot each other. I should probably talk to him some time.

I turn back to my paperwork. I really should be getting these done before I worry about any of my other personal problems. It is getting late after all. Usually there should be other student council members helping out, but today I'm the only one left behind. Luckily there isn't too much to do.

I finish my work just as the sun disappears below the horizon. In the end, it did take a little longer than I expected. I stand up and stretch. Wow, I'm tired. I'd like nothing better now than to be home, have a nice dinner, take a warm bath and go to bed. I pack up my things and hurry out the door.

I'm at the last street before the one my house is on before I get the strange feeling that I'm being watched again. What bad timing. This particular street is quite deserted and barely anyone would see whatever happens here. I pick up my pace while keeping a sharp eye on my surroundings to see if I can somehow find the person watching me. I suppose the most important thing now is to make sure I'm not somehow taken by surprise.

I'm almost at the turn into my street when a figure steps out from the bushes beside the road right in front of me. The light from one of the street lamps falls onto his face and I stop short in shock. The features illuminated by the street lamp are just too familiar – the very person I saw being taken away from school in an ambulance just this afternoon. How did he get here? He should be at the hospital right now.

Actually that doesn't matter. My top priority right now is getting out of this situation safely. It's obvious that he's targeted me now. He doesn't seem to have a gun though. Logically he shouldn't; there's no way he could have obtained a replacement so quickly, and his previous one was confiscated by the police. But, if what Yuzuru said is true, then he shouldn't pose much of a threat without a gun. The way he stepped out of the bushes seemed much more agile than he should have been though. I guess I'll have to find out.

I dart to the side and try to a dash for the opening on the other side of the road. Unbelievably, the man makes a quick hop and is standing in front of me again, blocking my path. I skid to a stop. This isn't going to work. Come to think of it, could this actually be the same person? The man standing in front of me now gives the impression of a quick and agile solitary predator capable of taking down prey alone. Yuzuru's description made me think of some kind of zombie, generally slow in reflexes and mobility except for the enhanced gun-handling ability. It's like a complete change in character occurred between then and now. What's going on?

The man suddenly charges towards me. I barely have time to register what is going on, but my body somehow knows exactly how to respond. I twist to the side and he misses me by a hair. Just as he passes by, I give him a good shove to the side, knocking him off balance. He recovers quickly enough and turns around to face me again.

Apparently he decided not to try tackling me again and rushes back in, fists clenched in preparation for a punch. I duck under his first high swing and catch hold of his second punch from the side, giving his arm a good wrench downwards. Once again he staggers off balance to the side. I face him, still keeping my guard up. Physically I'm at a disadvantage in every aspect; there's no way I can win through force. The best I can do is look for an opening to incapacitate him for a while and run for it. Luckily it seems that he can't throw many quick attacks in succession, otherwise it wouldn't have been so easy to see them well enough to parry them.

This time he comes in sweeping kick; I leap backwards just in time to avoid it. He follows up with a flurry of spinning kicks and punches. There's no way I can get into position to counter them – I'm being forced back down the road. Seeing this, he lets loose with a straight thrusting kick, one that would definitely have sent me flying and ended the fight with one hit. I leap aside just in time as his foot connects with the space where I would have been if I had been just a bit slower. I bring my elbow down on his knee before he can recover from the kick. Not wasting time, I continue in a spin and swing my arm into the back of his other knee. Now on both his knees, I give a firm chop to the back of his neck. He collapses to the ground in a heap.

Not giving a second thought, I gather my things that had dropped on the ground and run towards my street, intending to put as much distance as possible between us first. As I reach the intersection, I turn around to make sure he isn't somehow still giving chase, but what I see is more surprising. He isn't there. I'm sure I had knocked him unconscious with that last chop to the head. He couldn't have recovered so quickly, and if so, where is he? He isn't chasing me, he isn't running away, and I would be able to see him from where I am if he decided to return to the bushes. He just vanished.

I continue hurrying home, replaying the last few minutes in my head. That whole ordeal seems so surreal to me. I was sure I didn't know how to defend myself, but at the last moment it just seemed like I knew what to do. Everything seemed to move in slow motion. I knew how to respond to his attacks even though I have no street fighting experience. Could this be what Yuzuru meant when he said that he just knew how to use the gun when the time came? Where did I learn how to fight in the first place? Then there's the matter of the man disappearing into thin air. Now even I am convinced that he is not a normal person, assuming he really is the same one who attacked Yuzuru. From the zombie-like behavior to the agile street fighter I met, the change is too large within such a short span of time. There's the question of how he escaped the paramedics too.

I reach my house and walk gratefully inside. Finally I can relax. I'm so relieved that I escaped safely, and now that the adrenaline rush is wearing off, I'm starting to feel even more tired than before. I make a quick sandwich for dinner and get the bath ready. I really don't feel up to preparing a proper meal at the moment.

I step into the bath and slide slowly down, letting the warm water wash over my tired muscles and savoring the feeling. That feels so good. I close my eyes and replay the day's events in my mind again, this time thinking more calmly. I can't deny now that I've become involved in more or less the same mystery as Yuzuru has. It's up to me to find out the truth behind the lost memories, I suppose. I really should get in contact with Yuzuru again and discuss the matter.

Before going to bed, I go to my computer to have a final check over my schedule and make sure there is nothing I have forgotten. When I'm satisfied that I have everything settled for the day, I prepare to shut the computer off. Just as I'm about to log out, an icon for a program I never knew I had catches my eye. There it is, sitting on the corner of my desktop, a blue background with the silhouette of a human figure with wings on the foreground. As my eyes wander to the title under it, they widen in shock for the second time today. Somehow I know this program. I don't remember ever seeing it on my computer at home, and for sure I never installed anything like it myself; yet, the images now flashing through my mind are definitely not hallucinations. I know this program is intimately linked to who I am, or used to be. It could explain the source of my unexplained experience in hand to hand combat I displayed earlier.

Angel Player.


	7. Chapter 7

Thank you everyone who have reviewed and are following my story. It's been really fun coming up with a continuation of one of my favorite anime series so far. Sorry for the delay in chapter 7, life has been catching up with me and the ideas aren't flowing as smoothly as they did when I wrote the events for the first day of the story. Hope it still lives up to expectations.

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><p><strong>Chapter 7<br>**Otonashi Yuzuru

I jolt awake, this time from a series of disjointed dreams I'm sure is caused by all the lost memories resurfacing yesterday. I keep my eyes closed, trying to hold on to as much as I can. In one scene, I was supposed to be invading someone's room with a few other people, including someone who was carrying what looked like a pole arm and someone trying to hack into a computer using a laptop. In the next, I was shooting at shadow-like creatures that just kind of dispersed instead dying in any way. And finally, I was in a fairly empty hall, attending what appeared to be a graduation ceremony with only five people attending. In those scenes, there always seemed to be a few people who were constantly present. One was someone called Hinata. I can't help noticing that the student I saw yesterday had the same name. Although I couldn't see him clearly, their figures looked similar enough. The second was a girl with violet hair wearing dark purple hairbands. She appeared to act as a leader, most likely of the student rebels I dreamed about before. And lastly, the girl who, until yesterday, I thought I didn't know. Tachibana Kanade. If what I have been remembering and dreaming about so far is real, then she was as much a part of all of it as me.

As I get up, I realize that my mind is indeed much clearer than it was yesterday. My subconscious appears to have organized the jumble of memories I had yesterday and formed connections between them. I am now quite certain that Kanade and I knew each other before; I just need to figure out the circumstances. My knowledge about guns probably came from the same or similar circumstances under which I met Kanade, and somehow I don't feel that the armed attack on me is so strange anymore. I still don't really know why though, but that feeling still remains quite vague.

All the faces I saw in my dream – I think that somehow what happened to me may be related to them as well, even if not directly. Everyone was part of the same group, and whatever is happening now could have something to do with them; there is no other explanation why all the strange things that have happened revolve around memories of them somehow. The question is: where could they be now? I think that if I can find them and gather everyone once more, everything can be made clear. The problem is, I still don't remember their names, and the one name I know – Hinata – is not even something I can be sure of yet. I could try looking for Hinata, and maybe Yui as well, at school. But at the moment, the only line of communication I have is probably Kanade.

I got prepared and arrive at school in record time. I feel like there is a reason for me to get here early now – to try and see if there are any more familiar faces among the student body. There have been at least three familiar faces just in this school so far, what is there to prevent the possibility of there being more?

I head to my classroom to drop off my things, at the same time glancing into the classrooms I pass to if any faces strike me as familiar. It turns out that I'm early enough so most of the other students have not arrived yet, and many classrooms are still fairly empty. As there's only so much I can do in an empty school, I sit down at my desk which is next to the window overlooking the grounds and watch as students slowly arrive at the front gate.

There is one thing I can say for sure after just ten minutes looking down at the gate: it really is boring. Maybe it will be less so if you know what you are looking for – maybe a person you like, or even just watching every girl and trying to guess their three sizes and what it would be like to have her as a girlfiend, as some of the guys in class are apt to do. In my case, I knew nothing about whoever I was searching for, only taking in every face in the hopes that my subconscious would intervene the way it did before with related people.

Eventually, I see Kanade walking in among the crowd. I smile to myself. Finally, someone familiar. Not a new person like I'd hoped, but by this time I'm just dying to see anyone I know. Now that I have a chance to take a good look at her, I realize that she is quite cute; those large eyes, flowing hair and petite frame are just too irresistible. I wonder if I realized that before.

Suddenly realizing that I've begun to daydream, I pull myself back to the present. I still need to keep a watch on the arriving students, but I'm beginning to wonder how I should approach them after I've determined their identity. I can't assume that they remember anything; they may not have had any stimuli to jumpstart their memory. I can't very well walk up to them and say "Excuse me, do I seem familiar to you?" That'd scare people off, if anything.

A figure just walking through the gate catches my attention. She stands out more than most of the other students because of the guitar bag she's carrying over her shoulder. She has shoulder length scarlet hair and a very calm and collected look. She seems to be one of the cool and elegant girls that tend to be quite popular among guys, and I can imagine that it would be further accentuated by the fact that she plays the guitar.

That feeling of familiarity washes over me again as I watch her make her way across the yard. Flashes of her playing in an all-girls band surface in my mind. She seems to be the lead singer or guitarist, and apparently the band was quite popular, as the audience appeared to be large and hyped up. I close my eyes, trying to remember her name, or at least the name of the band if it could be of any help. I think I remember the initials GDM, which must be the band's abbreviation. Ah, I've got it! Iwasawa. I'm still not sure exactly what role she played before, but I get the feeling that she was quite important as well.

So that makes it three people I have yet to contact. Hinata, Yui, and Iwasawa. The group is already getter bigger before I even know what good getting in touch with them will do. That detail still remains as vague as ever.

I continue my watch on the front gates but nobody else familiar shows up. Well, I shouldn't expect a whole mob of familiar-yet-unknown people to pop up in school all of a sudden. As it stands, the current number is already against all odds of being coincidence. My next step should be to figure out how to contact them without making myself look like a freak. I'll have to at least wait until the first break before doing that though.

The morning classes have never passed so slowly. I believe this is the first time I have ever anticipated break. And as many students would probably know, the more you are looking forward to something, the slower it will come. The wait for break to arrive has never been so long and painful.

When the bell finally rings, I jump out of my seat, full of energy once again. I haven't really decided how to tackle approaching each of them in a manner that wouldn't alarm them should they not remember the things I've been recalling. But I suppose just going by and showing them my face would be a start, just to see their initial reactions.

As I'm about to leave the classroom, I hear one of my classmates call my name.

"Otonashi! You have a visitor!"

Strangely I also hear whispers going around the room.

"Why's she coming to visit him?"

"It's not fair! I thought he's the type to keep to himself?"

Just then someone bangs me on the back. I turn around to find Oono, one of the few people in class I have talked to on a fairly regular basis.

"Hey, why didn't you tell me earlier that you managed to get so close to a girl? And it's the president, out of all people! You lucky person!"

President? I turn towards the door to confirm my suspicions. And sure enough, there she is. Kanade.

She beckons towards me.

"Could you come with me for a while? I have something to discuss with you."


	8. Chapter 8

Finally I got chapter 8 out! Sorry this took so long, but now that classes have officially started, my pace is slowing down. I'll still be working on it regularly (as much as I can), but updates won't be as frequent as they were over the summer. Thanks everyone for reading!

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><p><strong>Chapter 8<br>**Tachibana Kanade

I walk down the hallway towards the student council room, with Yuzuru trailing behind me. I noticed that my appearance at his classroom seemed to cause quite some commotion. I don't really understand why; all I did was ask if I could see him for a moment. Sure, I don't usually ask to see people personally, but would doing so even once be such a big deal?

Anyway, I'm quite glad I could find the time to call Yuzuru out today. Last night… let's just say I feel like there is a completely different Kanade inside myself. The images that flashed through my mind, though not really complete or coherent, allowed me to at least realize that I am currently not who I think I am. There is a whole different life I previously lead in a completely different world, one where things that would be considered magic here were not only possible but somewhat a part of everyday life. And Yuzuru was very important to who I would eventually become. I need to see how much he remembers of that time, hopefully as much as or more than I have. That would make things a bit simpler.

There is one problem though. I wasn't able to fully access what should be the key to my past identity. The Angel Player that was on my computer was somehow a dummy program. At least I couldn't get it to work then, and when I tried to search, I couldn't any data related to it. And unfortunately, I remember events surrounding Angel Player but not its exact function yet.

We finally arrive at the student council room, and I invite Yuzuru to sit at our guest table, the same seat he took just yesterday. I take the seat opposite him.

"I'll get straight to the point. First, let me ask you. Can you guess the reason I asked to speak with you?"

"I think I can venture a good guess. This has something to do with how we seemed familiar to each other, I hope?"

"I suppose I can say you're correct. But, you hope?"

"I've also had to intention to talk to you about that. So actually I'm quite glad that you called me for that particular reason."

"I see. So, I assume you have remembered certain things that somehow feel like they were part of another life? I can't really put this into words properly, but that's the way I see it at the moment."

"That's about right, though most of the things I can remember seem to be people. Faces just seem to surface in my mind once in a while, and I think I can recognize people I knew previously. There seem to be a few in this school already."

Now that's news to me. "Are there? Who are the ones you remember?"

"There's someone called Hinata…"

Hinata? Somehow that name sounds familiar to me too.

"Could this Hinata be someone with slightly longish blue hair?"

"I think you're right. Do you know him?"

"I think I do, now that you've mentioned him. I believe he was among your closest friends before, you know."

"Was he? Come to think of it, I think he has appeared in most of the things I remember. I don't really remember my relationships with others though."

"I think we were kind of on opposite sides for a while. You and your friends were fighting against me at first, but then we ended up being on the same side. I don't remember why."

"That sounds intriguing. None of those details really clear to me yet. It seems as though you remember more than I do."

"Just bits and pieces. Anyway, who else have you seen in the school that seem familiar to you?"

"There was Hinata, and then there was a girl with him. I think her name was Yui. There's another girl who was carrying a guitar, called Iwasawa."

Now those are more unfamiliar names. But a guitar? I remember a band very clearly in my memories so far, maybe she was part of them?

"Do you remember if Iwasawa was part of any band before?"

"Come to think of it, I do remember an abbreviation I think belongs to the band. It was just GDM."

"Ah, now I remember. It should have been something like Girls Dead Monster. They were quite popular among the students."

"I would think so. I remember that their concerts were always filled with students."

"You're right on that point. Now, let's move on to that world in general. How much do you remember of it?"

"I know for sure that we were in the same school there, and that it was a fairly well equipped place. The one thing I've been thinking about but can't really be certain of is that it was some kind of afterlife. Everyone there had died for some reason and ended up there."

"I figured as much. But now at least we can be sure of our facts. It will help us reconstruct our memories as a whole, if anything. Is there anything else you can remember that could be important as a whole?"

"I think that's about it from me. Like I said, most of my memories are of people, and I should be able to identify anyone else I could have known before. Other than that, I don't think I'm much help at the moment."

"It's alright. I'm sure we'll eventually find that ability useful. We need to gather as many of the old group as we can. I think it's my turn to tell my side of the story."

With that, I start telling Yuzuru about my encounter last night and of how I discovered Angel Player on my computer. I tell him of how I'm sure that Angel Player played a very important role in my combat abilities, yet I don't really know the details of how it worked. And of course, of my conviction that somehow he played a large part in who I would eventually become, and probably even who I am now.

As I tell him this, his face gradually changes to one of realization. He looks like he has suddenly understood something.

"Wait, I think I remember now! You're right, Angel Player is what made you who you were – a near-unstoppable fighting machine. You were literally capable of redirecting bullets away from you and even knock them away with your wrist blades. And my experience with firearms comes from opposing you together with the other student rebels! If I remember correctly, Angel Player is what gave you your abilities. Some of them bordered on godlike; you were capable of feats only seen in games and movies. Erm, but the reason we opposed you and what happened after that aren't within reach yet."

"Great! Finally we have something concrete to go on!" I feel just as excited at finally knowing more or less what Angel Player is. I really should try getting it to work – my curiosity has been fully aroused now. I want to know what I was capable of. "But it's about time for classes to start. I think you should try getting in touch with the other people and see what more you can find out."

"Great, I was planning to do that all along. I'll update you tomorrow on my progress."

"See you!"


	9. Chapter 9

Finally I'm back! I'll try to get as much out while I still can. The last few months were hectic, never thought senior year would be this bad. Hope you'll like this chapter, enjoy!

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><p><strong>Chapter 9<br>**Otonashi Yuzuru

I walk back to my classroom, somehow feeling very satisfied. Finally, something good has happened. Talking with Kanade has helped quite a bit, and now I feel quite confident that looking for the other members of the group will be of even more help. I'll get around to it the moment school ends.

Once again I sit through a painfully long sequence of classes, trying to concentrate but not really doing very well. Somehow my anticipation has increased after that talk with Kanade; it's as if I'm hoping something will happen and yet not knowing exactly what I'm expecting. I feel like I'm operating entirely on intuition now.

As soon as the final bell rings, I leap up from my seat again, fully determined to get going. It doesn't matter how I approach the matter – I've decided to just go with the flow and hope that somehow they've had similar experiences: something that reminded them of their past lives or simply any memory recalled due to familiar stimuli. Everything so far has just clicked quite smoothly into place, what's to stop it from happening to the others as well?

I hurry down to the entrance of the building. I don't know where Hinata's classroom is, but I hope to be able to meet him leaving the school again like I did yesterday. If Yui is with him, then it would be killing two birds with one stone. The problem is, I don't know if I'd feel bad interrupting them and destroying the mood should it really happen. Especially if they somehow do not have any memories of that time yet, it would just feel wrong to bring it up all of a sudden. Well, there's no point worrying about it now I suppose. I'd already decided to do it after all.

After about 10 minutes leaning against the wall and watching the door, I see the blue hair I now recognize as Hinata's beyond the door, brightly reflected in the setting sun. Once again he is joined by Yui, walking at his side and looking quite happy. Well, here's my chance. I take a deep breath and walk up to them, who have turned and are incidentally headed my way.

Apparently they realize I'm headed straight for them before I get within speaking distance. Both of them have stopped their conversation and frozen in their tracks, looking at me in a way I am sure is not something anyone would give a complete stranger. In fact, it's starting to make me nervous.

"Otonashi-senpai?"Yui is the first to speak up, in a tone of complete astonishment.

"Otonashi?"Hinata echoes. His face has such a look of amazement that it takes all I have to hold back an involuntary laugh.

"Hey," I reply. "From those looks on your faces, I assume you know who I am?"

"Of course we do!" Yui exclaims. "The famous new member of the SSS who was among the sole survivors of his first real operation, and the first to make friends with the perceived enemy;the newbie who became close friends with Hinata-senpai and who was among the sanest people in a group of idiots."

This time my mouth drops open. I'm caught off guard from her initial speech – she already seems to know more about me than I do about myself. I can't find a proper response to that outburst.

"Surprised that I know so much about you? Hehehe… There is nothing that Yui-nyan doesn't know about! Her information network is the best!"

"Stop spouting nonsense!" Hinata says, putting his fist on Yui's head and giving her a hard massage. He turns to me. "Well, it's true that we are having flashbacks from our time in the SSS, as well as some of what we went through back then. I guess it's thanks to that that we managed to get together; we both kind of remembered our initial love-hate relationship and the promise we made before Yui moved on. Though it's still kind of early to fulfill that promise," he adds with a laugh.

"But anyway, from your question earlier, I'm guessing you're not here for idle chat?" He continues, turning serious. "This has something to do with the sudden resurfacing of our memories right?"

"You've got that right," I say. "Somehow it feels like both of you know more about myself than I do though. Exactly how much do you remember?"

"Well, I'd say that what Yui said just now pretty much sums up all we remember, of course centered around you," Hinata says with a laugh. "We remember the events leading up to you joining us, the legendary operation in which you and Yuri were the only ones to survive up to the end. My personal memories of that only go as far as I went myself though, hahaha.."

"And then, and then, of how you managed to befriend the very one the SSS was formed to rebel against," Yui pipes up again, as hyperactive as ever. "Throughout your time there, you managed to become close friends with Hinata-senpai. That bit about you being the sanest among a group of idiots is my opinion though," she adds, smirking.

"And whoever calls someone else an idiot is an idiot right, idiot?" Hinata says in a mock serious tone, putting his hand on Yui's shoulder.

"Who are you calling an idiot?" Yui swiftly jumps onto Hinata's back and puts him in a stranglehold, literally putting her entire weight on Hinata's neck.

"Yui…!" Hinata chokes, trying to loosen Yui arm around his neck. "Get off me! I'm your senpai you know!"

"Oops…" Yui says, pulling herself up and supporting herself on Hinata's back. "I'm sorry, honorable senpai, but it is my humble opinion that Hinata-senpai's honorable brain is not as sane as Otonashi-senpai's."

"Why you…" Hinata begins, then suddenly grabs Yui's arm and performs a clean judo throw, flipping Yui over his head and landing her on her back.

As I watch this, I get a weird sense of déjà vu – this scene feels remarkably familiar to me, especially the direction their exchanges took, and yet I do notice a slight difference. Although Hinata threw Yui around, he obviously did it in a way not intended to injure her in any way. It was a practice throw that would not harm anyone prepared for it, which Yui apparently was, though it did not stop her from playing the part.

"Hinata-senpai, it hurts!" she complains, going completely limp from the arm that Hinata is still holding on to.

"Huh? You know very well that it shouldn't hurt that much, especially for someone as athletic as you." Hinata grins.

"Whatever!" Yui exclaims, hopping up again. "Anyway, you are still an idiot for doing that to me!"

"Can we stop the drama now?" I speak for the first time since it all started. I honestly have begun to wonder if they somehow forgot that I'm still around.

"Oh, right," Hinata says, turning away from Yui to face me. "Do you want the details of what we know? I'm guessing your memories still aren't very clear, right?"

"I'd say you're quite right. Should we go sit down somewhere?"

"Let's move to the benches around the field. Come on, Yui!"

We relocate to the place Hinata mentioned, a set of benches placed around our school track field meant for spectators and reserve players when any event is held. Yui has been hanging onto Hinata's arm this whole time, and I hang back, feeling a little awkward being too close. Why are things going so well between them even though they have partially recovered memories? Does it not bother them?

We sit down and Hinata starts, "So what would you like to know first?"

I make a quick summary of what I know so far, and ask him to fill any blanks in with whatever he has.

"Hmm... what you have so far is interesting. It does clarify a few points for me, though it does look like your fragments would have a tendency to make you more confused. What Yui and I have pieced together is enough for us to remember what our relationship was like before, and we just decided to make good use of our promise. Nothing strange has happened to us, and so we managed to just ignore the rest of our memories, thinking that as it was all in the past, there is no use dwelling on it. What you and Kanade have experienced is interesting though – it does seem as if the past is catching up with both of you. I'd love joining up with as many as the old gang as possible if something big happens again."

"Ok, now a quick overview. You just appeared in the world of the afterlife as we were having a quick encounter with Kanade, then known to us as Tenshi. It took a stab from Tenshi before you even realized that it was not your usual world, and that you couldn't die there. It took some persuading, but you eventually joined the SSS, which incidentally was formed to oppose Tenshi. It was based on the perception that Tenshi was really a subordinate of god, and our goal was to oppose god, and by extension Tenshi."

"I think it took a while, but eventually we managed to complete an operation that effectively disgraced Tenshi and lost her her position of power as student council president. It was after that that we realized Tenshi herself was not opposing us, but was only doing her job as a student council president. After she lost her position, her hostility towards us followed. I'm not sure when it was that you started to get friendly with her, but eventually she became a valuable ally to us."

As I listen to this, I finally feel that things are starting to get more coherent. That overview was enough that I can make more sense of the flow of events starting from when I somehow appeared in the afterlife. At least as far as I am concerned, I understand enough that I am satisfied with who I was before. My greater concern now is…

"So just to be sure, you said Kanade was the one you were opposing from the beginning? Based on the assumption that she was an angel of god? But why did you believe that in the first place?"

"From what I remember, it was probably due to the conclusions Yuri made from a long time observing the world around. Kanade seemed to act differently from the rest of the residents and the small group of humans who were there. And most importantly, she possessed powers that appeared to be of supernatural origin – she could barely be scratched with any weapon we threw at her, and her general abilities seemed to border on being magic."

"Yuri? Who's Yuri again?"

"What? Of all the people you could forget, you choose Yuri? Yuri was our leader, the one keeping the entire SSS together! She was the first to rebel against that world and formed the SSS together with me. We were the ones everything started with."

"Really? I don't think I ever knew that. So Yuri was the brains behind the group?"

"Well, I suppose you could say that, though I think sometimes you could be more insightful, especially when you were the first to see Kanade as something other than an enemy. You were slow to realize she wasn't actually an angel though," Hinata laughs.

"Hmm, I wonder if I can somehow find Yuri. I think I sort of remember what she looks like. She should be able to help a lot if she remembers enough from before. She was the first after all."

"She's in this school, don't you know?" Hinata asks in surprise. "If you don't remember her well you probably wouldn't recognize her though. I haven't really talked to her, so I don't know if she has resurfaced memories or not. Maybe you could try looking for her in the next few days."

"Yui-nyan will help too!" Yui says happily, running over from behind us. Apparently she left the bench sometime when we were talking and was running around energetically, the way Yui always is. "I'll ask my band members if they remember anything! I'm sure that at least Iwasawa-senpai will know a few things, even though she was the earliest among us to leave."

"Oh, you know Iwasawa-san?," I ask in interest. "You were in a band before too, right?"

"Yes! We are reforming Girls Dead Monster!" Yui exclaims. "I was so happy when I had the chance to finally perform beside Iwasawa-senpai! It's like a dream come true!"

"You're really energetic," I say, getting up. "Well, I think I've found out enough for the moment. I probably shouldn't bother the two of you anymore today. Thanks for telling me all you did."

"It's fine. We probably shouldn't have just kept to ourselves either, especially since I knew Yuri was in the same school as well. So who do you think should try to contact her?"

"We'll just go with the flow and see who runs into her first tomorrow. If we haven't managed to by the end of the day, then we'll try finding her," I say. Somehow I'm feeling very satisfied from today's conversation and the sense of urgency I felt before is gone. I feel like the next step could be taken with a little more composure.

"Great. Well, see you tomorrow then!"

"Bye, Otonashi-senpai!"


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10  
><strong>Tachibana Kanade

I start packing my things as soon as the final bell rings. I've never felt this anxious to get out of school before. I usually pay a visit to the student council room after school and handle anything that needs to be done before leaving, but today is different. I can't wait to get home and look further into Angel Player, and hopefully discover my past identity in the process.

Just to ensure I don't appear to have disappeared without a trace, I head to the student council room to see if the vice president or any of the officers are there. Luckily, the same officer who first reported Yuzuru's attack to me is present. I tell her that I won't be staying back today and ask her to handle whatever work she is capable of. There shouldn't be so much that I can't catch up when I return tomorrow.

Having settled that, I head back to the front entrance of the school building. Just as I'm putting on my outdoor shoes, I notice Yuzuru standing just beyond the entrance, talking with someone I assume is Hinata, judging by the distinctive shade of blue of his hair. I smile to myself. At least things seem to be going well on his side. Seeing that they seem to be preoccupied with the antics of a pink-haired girl who must have been with Hinata before, I quickly slip through the door in the other direction, heading towards the front gate. There's no point in distracting Yuzuru at the moment; he seems to be handling things well.

As I pass the street on which I was attacked just a day ago, my mind wanders to the mystery attacker who I assume was the same one who attacked both Yuzuru and me. Apparently he disappeared into thin air after I escaped he hasn't been heard or seen since, as far as official reports go. If there had been any other attempts on the school's students, at least the teachers or the student council should have heard about it. The mysterious way in which he moved, and his apparently empty personality, as if he was just some shell manipulated by a not-so-human entity, has aroused my suspicion that he may really not be from this world at all. The resurfacing of old memories and reunion of the old group seem to add to the likelihood that it all comes from, or leads back to, the afterworld.

I safely reach the front doors of my home, and I realize I had been unconsciously preparing myself for any kind of attack again for a while now. The subconscious release of the tension from my shoulders is nevertheless obvious. It's like my body is breathing a sigh of relief for not having to go through another surprise workout. Yet, despite feeling more relaxed physically, I can't help from having a strange sense of foreboding that this may literally be the calm before the storm. Something is telling me that after having been attacked with the attackers suffering no real harm, there is no logical reason for them to suddenly disappear and not continue pursuing their targets. Especially considering the unusual growth from the time Yuzuru was attacked to when I was attacked, if what Yuzuru reports is accurate, a full day is probably enough for that person to reach near superhuman capabilities.

No matter how anxious I was to get home, I find myself taking things a little slowly out of habit. It really is against my nature to rush, and I suddenly feel like preparing a true meal after skimming over dinner yesterday. After all, I tell myself, I'll still have the rest of the night remaining.

I prepare all the ingredients and put them over the stove in a pot for them to slowly cook. After that, I go over to switch my computer on in advance. Just out of pure habit, I first check my mail and daily schedules for anything that I may have to do, especially specific cases from the student council that I would have missed today. The student council has set up a system where any important matters can be instantly forwarded to the administrative members. This is actually very efficient in a way, but it constantly reminds me of how hard it could be to escape matters regarding the school ever since I started as the student council president.

There is one thing I do notice though. The icon that should belong to Angel Player still remains where it was before, but somehow it appears to have changed. What was a plain blue background before is now a nice shaded halo of silver and blue, and the silhouette… it really seems strange, but I think it has now distinctly become a silhouette of someone exactly like me. It's like seeing my shadow with wings. Even before I attempt to open it again, I have a feeling that this time, it wouldn't be just a dummy shortcut.

My train of thoughts is interrupted by the sound of boiling and the aroma of my curry drifting out of the kitchen. I leave my computer and hurry to the kitchen. I was so absorbed that I forgot to check on my cooking. How careless. Anyway, it doesn't seem to be burnt so it's fine. I fill a plate with rice and curry and sit down to eat. Once again it occurs to me how unusual it feels to have life literally overturned just a day ago with weird events happening all around, and today everything appears to have returned to normal with the exception of the conversations between me and Yuzuru. I'm even sitting down having dinner as always while yesterday I couldn't even think about spending time to cook anything.

I finish my dinner and hurriedly clear the dishes up. I can't deny it anymore; my curiosity has gotten the better of me and I can't wait to see what Angel Player will be like today. Somehow that change must mean something – it can't still be the same dummy shortcut as it was yesterday. I sit down at my desk and try to open Angel Player.

After a tense wait, I see a loading animation showing the same figure in the icon spreading its wings while the background glow increases in intensity. Yes! It's finally working! I feel a very unusual urge to jump up and celebrate. It's so unlike me to get so excited over something that I feel like laughing at myself. I have to calm down. I take a deep breath and look at the screen again.

There it is. Angel Player in all its glory. I mean that literally. The blue interface with white highlights just looks so elegant. And now, the figure displayed in the center of the screen is undoubtedly my own silhouette; it almost feels like looking at my own shadow when I stand in front of a light source. The most interesting part however is a list labeled as "Skills" that sits beside the silhouette. As I look through it I see familiar names everywhere. Hand Sonic. As I select it, two white blades grow out of the silhouette's hands while a submenu with Ver 1 through Ver 5 listed on it appears. Suddenly, the image of me stabbing Yuzuru with one of the blades flashes vividly before my eyes.

I select another item listed as Harmonics. The normally black silhouette splits into two, with the second one colored a bright red. At the same time, a memory of an intense inner struggle with some alternate personalities surfaces. Apparently I was lucky to have been myself after all that. I quickly look through all the skills listed there. Distortion, Delay, Overdrive. As I see the visual representations of each of these skills, more and more memories resurface until I feel like I've been reborn. The old me that lived in that afterlife… finally I see why I was seen as an angel, even a messenger of God. Now I realize that I never really discovered the origin of Angel Player. From what I can remember so far, I simply found it in one of the old unused computer labs when I was looking around shortly after becoming student council president. I figured out how to use it with some experimentation and the growing need to defend myself, especially after the SSS was formed.

Actually, now that I think about it, I notice one obvious parallel between the current me and the "Angel" me. I became the student council president, both here and in the afterlife. Somehow, it just happened so naturally both times that I barely thought about it. Apparently I seem to be destined to be student council president no matter what. I smile to myself as I think about it. I wonder what this says about me as a person.

So now I've finally rediscovered Angel Player. Why did it show up on my computer in the first place? Unless I'm very much mistaken, Angel Player's functions would only be able to manifest themselves in the afterworld. I don't really know how everything there works, but I'm quite sure whatever mechanism it utilizes wouldn't work very well in the real world. Besides, I can't really imagine what I would need it for, though defending myself from the likes of that zombie attacker seems the most likely.

Actually, there is a way to determine if Angel Player works in this world. It's so simple, especially since I was the sole user Angel Player was calibrated to. I form a picture of the twin blades I had so often used before in my mind.

"Hand Sonic."

Immediately one blade grows from behind each of my wrists, serving as natural extensions of my hands but not inhibiting their use. As I stare at the blades, shimmering with an almost otherworldly quality, I slowly realize that the matter is most likely more serious than we could have imagined. Angel Player and its capabilities have somehow materialized into the real world, together with the attacker who I'm now positive must have come from the afterlife or some other dimension as well. This definitely is not something that should be happening. I'll have to contact Yuzuru and tell him to bring as many of the old group together as possible.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11  
><strong>Otonashi Yuzuru

I head out to school today in a really good mood. Talking to Hinata really made me feel like I'm doing something and not just being a sitting duck. Everything would just be perfect if one of us meets Yuri today and gets her to remember our past.

I wonder how Kanade is doing. I hope she has had success with Angel Player; that would answer a lot of questions on both sides as well. Somehow I think Kanade acts as the bridge connecting both worlds – if we find out more about her from before, it should help us with some of the mysteries we are facing now in the real world. I don't know where I got the idea from, but that's the feeling I get.

Yet, at the exact moment I step into the school grounds, I'm overcome with a feeling of dread. A strong sense of malice appears to hang from the air itself, which seems to have become so thick I feel like I'm suffocating. I stop in shock and try to catch my breath, but the overwhelming feeling of suffocation doesn't last long. I manage to regain my senses, but there remains a lingering feeling of uneasiness deep inside me. This time I don't only think that something is wrong; I'm positive that whatever is going to happen cannot be good.

As I look around at the students coming to school, I realize something unusual. None of the other students appear to be affected by the atmosphere as strongly as I was. At the very least, they don't get the suffocating sensation I had, but as I walk further away from the gates, I hear uneasy whispers among them that indicate they are aware that something is off. Even then, none of them appear to have felt it as clearly as I did. I wonder if this has something to do with the afterlife; I need to check on Kanade, Hinata and all the others we know.

I run in the direction of Hinata's classroom, but before I get there, I see him around a corner in an intense discussion with a girl with violet hair. Well, at least he's found Yuri. As I approach them, Yuri suddenly turns in my direction, taking me by surprise.

"Ah, Otonashi-kun. Great timing. I assume you're feeling the strange atmosphere in the air today?"

"Erm, yes, but…"

"Excellent. From what Hinata has told me so far, I think we can all agree that this should have something to do with our past in the afterlife. The most important question we should answer now would be 'what is going on?'."

As expected of her. Apparently she has already taken up the leadership role without so much as a blink of an eye.

"Wait, Yurippe," Hinata cuts in. "How exactly do we go about answering that? We have nothing to start with!"

"But that's where you're wrong. Otonashi-kun, I heard you were attacked by some strange character? Can you describe him a little?"

I briefly describe my attacker and tell Yuri about his weird, slightly inhuman behavior.

"You're right. Doesn't sound very humanlike to me. Kind of like the NPCs from before, only different. Actually, we should get Takeyama-kun to help out as well. The computer whiz should be smart enough to form some theories about this phenomenon. I happen to know that he's also in the same school as us."

"Wait, you're going too fast. How are you taking all this so calmly? Most of us are still confused by our memory fragments and yet you're acting as if this is all natural, like you have been doing this forever."

"Isn't it obvious?" Hinata puts in. "She's so excited to be able to return to being leader of a rebel group that it somehow triggered a total recall. It just shows how much she misses... Ouch!"

Yuri had interrupted Hinata with a straight punch to the face. She didn't look like she was playing around either; she put everything she had into that punch without regard to any injury she might cause.

"Yuriphe!" Hinata shouted with one hand over his nose. "Whaddo you dink you're doing? We're dot in the abderlibe adybore! I can'd resurrect ib you kill be!"

"Oh really?" Yuri replies, putting on a surprised expression. "Sorry, it slipped my mind. By the way, I can't really understand what you're saying with your hand over your nose like that."

"Whoze fauld do you dink id is?"

"Ok, calm down, you two," I interrupt. It's really amusing to watch, but I want to get the discussion going.

"Alright, Otonashi-kun," Yurippe turns her back to Hinata, all trace of humor gone. How does this girl switch gears so quickly?

"Actually, to put it simply, I think my form of memory resurfacing is a little different from the rest of you. Each of you seem to have small fragments come back to you crystal clear, while other parts are blank. I've been having this strange feeling that something is off for a while now, but nothing has been clear to me until Hinata told me everything you know this morning. I still can't say that I remember everything, but there is this gut feeling that tells me 'this is the way things happened, and this is what I should do.'"

"Wow…" I say in mock wonder. "That's really a leader for you. Having natural instincts that tell you what to do and not mess things up…"

"Otonashi-kun," Yuri's tone suddenly drops low and menacing. "I don't know if that was supposed to be sarcasm or not – "

"Ok ok I'm just joking!" I hastily correct myself. It definitely wouldn't be fun being on the receiving end of the same punch Hinata received. Besides, I know deep down that if anyone had to lead, it would be Yuri. She's a natural, although she has weird methods sometimes.

"So, what should we do next?" I ask. Before Yuri can answer, the bell signaling the start of homeroom echoes through the hallway.

"Ah, what bad timing," Yuri exclaims. "Anyway, let's head to class for now. I'll try to get in touch with Takeyama-kun as soon as possible. The rest of you just stay alert. The heavy atmosphere today can't be a mere coincidence. Oh, and Otonashi-kun?"

"Yes?" I reply, a little surprised.

"You should probably get Kanade-chan back with us. She'll definitely be more than a little useful when the time comes."


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12  
><strong>Nakamura Yuri

I head back to my classroom, my mind filled with the conversation we just had in the hallway. Honestly speaking, even though I put up such a confident front, I'm not really sure about what should be done to get to the bottom of the situation. I wasn't lying when I said that my memories weren't really surfacing before, unlike the others who seemed to be getting disjointed fragments of memories. There was just this uneasy feeling that something wasn't right, that there was an important part of me missing, until this morning when the strange atmosphere seemed to jump start some part of my mind. Suddenly flashes of my time in the afterlife started swimming in my mind, like some video on fast forward. I was so overwhelmed that I must have stood there in shock for a while, watching a life that until then I never knew I lead race before my eyes. My mind had just begun to comprehend this rush of information when Hinata happened to call me. As our conversation went on, snippets of memory that were relevant just started surfacing as the topics came up, allowing my mouth to kind of respond appropriately, but I always felt as if my mind was a few paces slower. The old Yuri, leader of the SSS, knew what she was doing, but the current Yuri was still struggling to catch up.

I let out a sigh as I slide myself into my seat, located next to the windows in the middle row of the class. Admittedly, it's a slightly awkward position for diligent students as the far side of the board is harder to see from here, but for today it works to my advantage as I can pay less attention without the teacher immediately noticing. I don't think I would be able to concentrate much anyway with my mind full of the morning's events. Sure, I did say with a lot of confidence that we could get Takeyama to help us, but it wouldn't be so easy, would it? Not everyone would have gotten a kick start to their memory like I did. In fact, from what I know so far, I'm the exception to the rule. The question of why I'm different from the others is the least of my worries now, though. I need to get in touch with Takeyama and somehow convince him to join us again, if needed. I'm hoping it wouldn't take a lot of persuasion. His smarts would definitely be valuable in figuring things out.

As soon as the bell signaling the start of lunch break rings, I hop out of my seat and hurry out of the classroom. I head down the hallway to the last classroom, remembering having seen Takeyama enter it before. Of course, at the time I couldn't really place who he was, except for a feeling that I knew him from somewhere. After this morning, it became clear who he was, from one of those sudden flashes when I was talking with Otonashi. Unless I'm mistaken from what I know about him, I wouldn't expect him to go somewhere so soon after break.

As I approach his class's entrance, I peer inside, trying to catch sight of him before striding in and risk making a fool of myself. After all, these are people here, not NPCs. I can't just pretend they don't exist, and I can't just do anything I like because of that.

"Hello, can I help you? Are you looking for someone?" A girl suddenly appears right in front of me without warning. I nearly jump back from surprise.

"Erm.. yes, is there a Takeyama-kun in this class by any chance?" I manage a reply.

"Takeyama? Yes, he's here. Let me call him." She turns around and calls into the room, "Takeyama-kun! Someone is looking for you!"

"Who is it? And please call me Christ next time!"

"Yeah, suit yourself."

I can't help smiling as I hear this exchange. Without a doubt, this is the Takeyama I'm looking for. Apparently I'm not the only one who doesn't care about his desired nickname.

Takeyama appears at the door and catches sight of me for the first time. He suddenly freezes in his tracks. The look of surprise on his face is so comical that it's all I can do to stop myself bursting out laughing. Judging from that look, I suppose there is no need to explain things from scratch now.

"Hi, I'm guessing there's no need to introduce myself?" I start with a grin.

"Y-Yes, I mean no, but how did you find me?" A question with such a surprisingly obvious answer I wonder why he even bothers to ask.

"Because I saw you at school? Wait, that makes it sound like you were hiding from me."

"Ugh.. Ok, I've felt something was wrong for a while now, but I didn't feel like doing anything rash until I understood the situation. I knew that if I told any of you, you would all just rush in without thinking things over, so I decided to research a little before jumping to conclusions. Seems like I didn't move fast enough though, and now you've found me, I guess we're going to go on some of your operations again?

"No, we just don't know enough to decide on a course of action. In fact, I only found out about everything that has happened this morning. I'm planning to get as many people together as possible and share everything we know before taking action."

"That sounds reasonable for once. So, I'm guessing you would prefer that I report on everything I found out during the meeting?"

"That would be best," I decide, even though I'm quite anxious to find out more immediately. "We still haven't found everyone we could though, so I can't decide exactly when we can get together yet. I'll let you know once we've decided."

He agrees and immediately turns back towards his desk. I head back to class myself, feeling a little relieved. I've done my part for now. I just hope that the others are doing all they can.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 1****3****  
><strong>Tachibana Kanade

I head down the hallway toward Yuzuru's classroom, fervently hoping that he'll be in. I tried looking for him this morning but somehow he wasn't there. This is bad timing for him to disappear. I need to tell him about last night. I just hope that his absence means that he was already looking for the other members elsewhere.

As I turn the next corner, someone bumps into me hard enough that I stumble backwards. As I'm about to fall over, I feel my arm being grabbed by someone, and I stand there hanging by the arm holding me up. Catching my breath, I notice that the person I bumped into is Yuzuru, whose hand is gripping mine with a concerned look on his face. A wave of relief at finding him washes over me even as he pulls me back on my feet.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes." After a short pause, I add, "I have something to tell you. Can you come to the student council room with me?"

Yuzuru seems a little surprised, but he agrees without hesitation.

Back in the student council room, we sit at the same spots when we first talked, and I start telling him about what happened last night and my worries about its implications.

"So Angel Player was what gave you your abilities back in the afterlife. I see, so your unusual powers and apparent invincibility was what made everyone believe that you were an angel. Even now, I still think the abilities you had are amazing."

"Yes, but the main point now is that Angel Player has manifested in the real world. That should not be happening. The question is why?"

"I get what you mean. It's as if we're back in the afterlife again, but this time we are not dead. Hopefully. I mean, nobody remembers dying another time, right? This can't be another afterlife?"

"I don't think so. It's not likely we could escape from one afterlife into another."

"It's not like we can die to test that theory out either."

"Of course not! I don't want to lose you ag…" I catch myself just in time before blurting it out. I look away in embarrassment. Just last night, I remembered my final moments in the afterlife, those last moments we spent in each other's embrace after confessing to each other. It took me a long time to reorganize my thoughts after that. It was a strange feeling realizing I loved him after starting to know him from scratch again. Disorienting. But after that part of me came back, it was hard to ignore it. And it looks like Yuzuru still doesn't remember that moment. I don't feel ready to let him know about it yet, or to ask him directly either.

"Kanade? What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong!" I reassure him hurriedly. "Everything's fine. It's just that I wouldn't want to test that theory out if I can help it."

"Neither would I. But now that you've gotten Angel Player back, I guess you're invincible again huh?"

"If Distortion and Delay are really working the way they did back then, then I suppose it would be pretty hard to hurt me. I rely on them a lot for defense after all."

"I'd still say you're an angel thanks to that. Oh, I met Yuri this morning. She told me to get you to join us again. With everything that has happened, I think you wouldn't refuse, right?"

"That's exactly what I've been thinking. Angel Player's appearance is already evidence that something is happening. I have a bad feeling that this is related to the attacks on us, and that they both have something to do with the afterlife. I just can't imagine how or why."

"I'm sure Yuri is also thinking of getting everyone together sometime or other. She's looking for Takeyama to see if he can help us. I'll let you know when she decides when we should meet, then you can come and tell everyone what you know."

"Ok."

We hear the bell ringing, so we get up and head back to our classes. If we'll end up fighting against who knows what again, Angel Player will definitely come in useful once more. I wonder if I should create more abilities with Angel Player in the meantime.

* * *

><p>A relatively short chapter this time. For those who have been saying that too much time is passing between updates, I'm sorry but this is probably still the best I can do for now. I've mentioned it before, but priority goes to building up my resume and other projects that will help me get a job in the future. I am still determined to see this through to the end, but I don't know how long it will take. Thanks to everyone still following the story for your patience.<p> 


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14  
><strong>Otonashi Yuzuru

The bell signaling the end of the school day rings and I snap back to reality. I had been dozing off from the monotonous drone of the teacher's voice. The day has actually been uneventful so far despite Yuri's predictions of something happening and caution to stay alert. What did she expect to happen anyway? Sure, I still feel the heavy atmosphere, but it doesn't seem to weigh as much on me as it did at first. But when I look around at the students, most of them seem to look extremely fatigued. From the look on some of their faces, I doubt that they learned anything from the last two periods.

I turn my attention towards the window, looking up at the sky. That's when I notice something strange. To make sure I'm not hallucinating, I press my face against the window and look more closely. Sure enough, I see a small flicker in the clouds. It looks a little like static on a television screen, but the distortion obviously consists of squares, like pixels on a low quality video. This definitely qualifies as strange. I'm sure no natural phenomenon would distort the sky into pixel-like fragments. It's still small enough to go unnoticed if you're not paying attention, which is probably why the students leaving the school are still acting normally.

I'm sure this qualifies as something unusual enough for Yuri to take notice. I wonder if she has noticed the same thing. Anyway, I'd better go check on her to see if she's had any luck with Takeyama at the very least. I'd like to get everyone together as soon as possible, as I'm sure what Kanade, as well as everyone involved has to say is quite important in getting to the bottom of recent events.

I make my way to Yuri's class. Before I get there, I can already hear her voice, speaking in urgent tones to somebody I guess must be Hinata because I hear a third person who must be Yui, judging from her tone and… Yui being herself.

I turn the last corner and see the trio standing opposite each other, Yui at Hinata's side. I wouldn't want to be involved in an argument, if that's what it was, but I need to talk to them as well. I decide to feign ignorance and walk up to them casually.

"Hi. What are you all talking about?"

"Ah, Otonashi-kun. We were discussing the possible number of people we could get together here. Not everyone who was with us before seems to be in the same school, and it would be near impossible to trace them if they end up being in another school or town."

"Even if we can get everyone we know in this school together, it doesn't mean that they are all battle ready, which I think we have to be based on the people who attacked you and Kanade," Hinata adds.

"What do you mean?" I ask, a little confused.

"Girls Dead Monster are all present, but as we all know they never specially trained for fighting. We were a diversionary group, and I don't think diversions are much use in our current situation," Yui comments.

"That's one of the problems," Yuri says. "Another one is actually equipping those who are capable of fighting. Our main weapons in the afterlife were firearms, and I don't think we can build weapons out of dirt and memories anymore. Even if we could, we may endanger other people depending on where we have to use them."

I think I understand what they are getting at. "So, we may have to switch to another method of attack?"

"The only other likely way is for all of us to go melee, but that would present another problem as well. Not everyone is suited for melee combat, and we don't know exactly what we are going against or what they are capable of. I think only Kanade-chan and myself are able to fight at close range as we are now."

"But Kanade's physical abilities were enhanced by Angel Player right? We don't know if…" I trail off. I did hear from Kanade that Angel Player materialized, giving her the same active abilities she had in the afterlife. I didn't hear about the passive ones, especially the physical enhancement, but I could assume that they are active too. If they are, then all is good, but if not, probably Yuri is the only one who can fight at close quarters naturally.

"You're right," Yuri says thoughtfully. She probably thought I was going to say that Angel Player doesn't exist here. No one else knows about it yet. "If she doesn't have Angel Player's enhancement, we don't know what she is capable of."

"Yuri. Kanade has something important to tell everyone who's a part of this. We should wait until our general meeting before making any decisions or conclusions."

"Really? I suppose it's best to let everyone know at the same time, though I'd really like to know the details now."

"Actually, there's something else I need to tell you. Have you seen the sky recently? Something strange is happening to it."

"What?"

Yuri immediately rushes to the nearest window and looks up at the sky. After staring at it for a moment, she lets out a loud exclamation.

"This is bad. That looks exactly like the interference that shows when the shadows we fought before formed or dispersed. It does look like the afterlife we were in has something or other to do with this. There can't be such a huge coincidence. I'll try to set the meeting as soon as possible. For now, let's have everyone we know be present, including Girls Dead Monster. We'll resolve any issues we have there."


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**  
>Nakamura Yuri<p>

Two days after the interference first appeared in the sky, we have finally gathered everyone and managed to agree on a time and place we can all get together and discuss the occurrences over the past week. Nothing major has happened since, but now the interference has covered the entire sky and it's starting to look as if we're living in a digital world.

And so here we are, in the student council room after classes on the last day of school before the weekend. All members we could find of the original SSS – Otonashi, Kanade, Hinata, Yui, Takeyama, Girls Dead Monster, and of course me. This is really a very small portion of what we had before, but I think it's already very lucky that so many of us ended up in the same school here. It's ironic that what used to be the room of our perceived enemy is now our room of operations.

"Welcome back to the former SSS. Unfortunately we cannot have a happy reunion as I'm sure most of you know by now that something strange is happening, and there is a very high chance that it is somehow related to the afterlife. Before going into details, I think it's better for everyone to share what they remember as most of you probably only recall fragments."

I start the meeting with the most fundamental problem common to every one of us. It is vital that we get everyone onto common ground so that there will be no confusion later.

"Wait, why is it the _former_ SSS? Do we have a new name now?" Hinata puts in, raising one hand in the air.

"No, but we are not in the afterlife anymore so I don't think Shinda Sekai Sensen still applies to us. We don't know what we are actually up against or what we are even supposed to do yet so we don't have a new name."

With that, I get everyone relating everything they remember in chronological order, and by the time each member has had a turn, we have quite a complete picture of what happened before. Otonashi and Kanade also take turns explaining what happened to them this past week.

"But we still don't know what is going on and how. Does anyone here have theories or information on these recent events?" Hinata says.

"I think Takeyama-kun has a few things he would like to tell everyone. Takeyama-kun?"

"Please call me Christ! And yes, I have noticed a few things that should shed some light on the recent occurrences. As you all know, the afterlife didn't exactly work the same way our world does. Weapons could be created out of memories and earth, and in the case of Angel Player and the Shadows, computer data had a direct effect on the surroundings. I'm still not sure how or why it worked that way, but over a week ago I noticed that my computer started acting strange. It was showing some of the properties that the afterlife computers did, and I found some stray data that was similar to the kind used by Angel Player that I found when I was hacking into Tachibana's computer. From recent events, I think we can safely conclude that there is a direct connection with the afterlife.

Now moving on with theories and speculations. We never found out if our bodies worked the same way in the afterlife. Of course, we all continued to function the way we did when we were alive, but we were never sure if our bodies were really 'alive' in that sense. We couldn't die; our bodies would be reconstructed every time we did. What if we were made up of some kind of 'data' as well? Something that could be rebuilt from a blueprint of our original bodies if we sustained extensive damage. That would explain how Angel Player works as well – computers didn't work on abstract digital data but used the same substance as the rest of the world. That's how a simple program could alter the properties of Tachibana or turn NPCs into Shadows.

So, if we take that to be true, then I can come up with a theory on how and why our memories are so scattered. The afterlife itself could have been meant to send people back with clean memories, but as we know Yuri destroyed a computer bank that presumably housed the main Angel Player program. It's not unlikely that its destruction somehow caused the world's system to malfunction, leading to incomplete erasing of our memories. We don't know how long it takes after someone disappears to actually leave the afterlife altogether, so it's possible that everyone who supposedly left earlier was affected."

A long silence follows Takeyama's speech as everyone attempts to digest the load of information. After a while, it's starting to look like either everyone is taking it extremely calmly, or they are still having trouble understanding the technical explanation he provided.

"So… are you saying that we were basically nothing more than data in the afterlife?" Otonashi finally speaks up.

"You can put it that way. If we view it as data, then it would appear that the afterlife's data itself has somehow invaded our world. The sky seems to have been partially converted to the form of data in the afterlife over the past few days. I've been picking up larger amounts of it recently."

"Then our attackers were programmed as well?" Kanade asks.

"It's possible. They may have been something like the NPCs from before but programmed to be hostile. From the way you described it though, it sounds like their initial programming may have been incomplete, as they seemed to act quite mechanically. The second attacker sounds like he was more sophisticated, so either these attackers are improving themselves, or new improved attackers are being sent."

"But why are they attacking us? We seem to be the ones they have been targeting," Otonashi says, still looking confused.

"I don't know. It's probably not a coincidence that the ones targeted so far were all in the afterlife together, and were SSS members as well. I'm just surprised that Yuri has not been attacked yet."

"Wait, why do you make it sound like I must be a target?" I ask indignantly.

"You were the one who did the most damage to the afterlife systems. If this has something to do with us not leaving the afterlife the way we were supposed to, then you have to be the prime target. The heavy atmosphere surrounding the school is likely due to it being where most of the energy from the afterlife has been focused, and this is where many previous members are, including you."

I can't find a way to argue against that, not when I don't have answers myself. Everything Takeyama has said so far seems to be making sense, and given that we have no conflicting evidence, we'll have to assume it's true for now.

"So to put it simply, the afterlife itself is coming after us now? That shouldn't be a problem! We have experience fighting against the afterlife after all." I feel quite confident with the adversary we are facing as this is something we are all familiar with.

"Hold on. You need to remember that we spent most of our time there going against Tachibana. The only time we directly fought against something that can be considered part of the afterlife was with the Shadows, and those were a formidable force. The point is, we still don't know what its own defensive systems are capable of. It would be better to exercise some caution for now."

"There's another thing," Otonashi speaks up, hand in the air as if asking a question in class. "How much of the afterlife has actually escaped out here? Are we playing by our laws or by theirs?"

"I think the most important question on everyone's minds regarding that is: can we die? I honestly don't have the answer to that question, so I would say it's better to assume we can. We are in the real world after all, no matter how much of the afterlife has materialized."

"I have something to say." Everyone looks at Kanade. She's been so quiet that her volunteering of information has drawn everyone's attention. "Angel Player has appeared and is working exactly as before."

She proceeds to explain how she discovered Angel Player on her computer and how she tested it, coming to the conclusion that Angel Player works almost exactly as it did in the afterlife. Of course, this news causes a commotion in the student council room. A working Angel Player means we have our strongest weapon among us already – Kanade herself.

When some of the noise has died down, Hinata voices the one concern that has started to occur to everyone. "It's fine if Kanade has gotten her abilities back, as that makes her almost invulnerable again. But if the rest of us can die for real, how are we supposed to fight or even defend ourselves? We can't obtain guns as easily as we could before."

"And what about Girls Dead Monster?" Iwasawa asks. "We never did much combat training with you before, and I don't think our usual role of diversion will be of use anymore. Is there something we could do?"

I don't have the answer to those questions. It's true that we relied mostly on guns in the afterlife, and they could be easily manufactured back then. Right now obtaining just a single gun would be a problem, much less enough for the whole team. As it is now, only Kanade and I can fight effectively at close range.

"I have a solution," Kanade proposes. "I can try making abilities for everyone. Guns are not likely, but I'll see what I can do."

"Can you do that?" I ask, feeling some relief. "You have experience creating abilities with Angel Player after all. Try to create something that would suit each person's style."

"Is it possible to create something for us too?" Hisako speaks up. "Even though I can't imagine what we could do as our instruments are the only thing we are good at."

"I'll try to think of something," Kanade says reassuringly.

"Great! I guess that's most of our initial concerns settled. I think our next step should be to stop the afterlife's invasion, but we have no solid information yet. We'll need to do some investigation, but it's best that we wait until everyone can at least defend themselves before attempting that. For now, you should all stay alert. If Takeyama-kun's guess is correct, any one of us may get attacked at any time. We still don't know their plans or methods, if they have any. The student council room is now our official base of operations, so if anything comes up, report here. Dismissed!" I end the meeting with a sense of accomplishment. At least we've made some progress in trying to understand what's happening. Finally I feel that we're no longer hitting a brick wall.

* * *

><p>I took liberties with what Takeyama is capable of here, because we don't get much info about Takeyama's true character. This chapter ended up being much longer than any previous ones, but don't expect this to become the norm. Thank you and look forward to the next chapter!<p> 


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16  
><strong>Tachibana Kanade

I lean back in my chair and close my eyes. I should rest a little. I've been working on Angel Player ever since I suggested creating new skills for the rest of the team. It isn't as easy creating abilities for several people as it was for myself.

Of course, Takeyama came over and tried copying Angel Player onto his computer as well so that we could distribute the responsibility of writing the skills, but somehow it refused to be copied. It seems to literally have taken root in my computer and only I can use it for now.

"Kanade, would you like some juice?" Yuzuru calls from the kitchen. He insisted on accompanying me since he has nothing else to do over the weekend. Not that I mind, anyway. We're both still avoiding the subject of our last moments in the afterlife. I'm keeping quiet about it, and I still don't know whether Yuzuru has recalled anything new. Because we were the only ones remaining then, I left that part out when describing the events we remember at the meeting.

"Yes, thank you."

Yuzuru comes over and hands me a glass of orange juice. Taking a seat beside me, he takes a look at my progress so far.

"Is it going well? Looks like reasonable progress for such a short time."

"Not bad. I need to get used to writing for other people. We won't know how well it works until they try it out though."

Yuzuru falls silent as he seems to start thinking something over. Somehow his usual cheerful self just evaporated right in front of my eyes.

"Hey, Kanade."

"Hmm?"

"Do you think this really will work?"

"What will?"

"Creating these new skills and using them to defend ourselves against whatever the afterlife is trying to throw at us."

"Why won't it?"

"I mean, we don't know what we'll be going up against, right? When we were in the afterlife, we could still work on trial and error before finding a good way to fight against something. We could even endure failure because no death was permanent. But we don't know that for sure now, right? What if we only have one chance at it? We'll really be putting our lives on the line then, even though nothing good will happen if we don't try to defend ourselves. I've died once, I don't want to die again. Maybe we won't get a second chance like we did before. And I won't be able to stand watching anyone else die. Especially you."

"Yuzuru…"

My heart tightened a little at that. To be honest, I feel the same. I'm worried that somehow, something somewhere will backfire even though we've gone through the possibilities and prepared for them. I may have understood how the afterlife worked when I was there, but I did not and still don't know what it's really capable of when it's after you. It really was different fighting in a world where you knew death was not permanent. But it's still too early to worry and be discouraged. We need to support each other if we want to have a chance of success.

"It's going to be fine. There's no point worrying about something before it's started. Besides, it's better than not doing anything. We'll all be there for each other. You've already lost the fight if you give up now."

Yuzuru remains silent, looking down at his feet. After what seems like a long while, he finally looks up, a hint of a faint smile on his face.

"Thanks, Kanade. You're right; it's not like me to admit defeat without putting up a fight."

We continue sitting side by side, enjoying each other's company. I work on the skills for the SSS while Yuzuru offers the occasional opinion on functional and aesthetic improvements. We try getting creative, especially for Girls Dead Monster because the one thing they are really good at is music, which does not work well as a weapon.

I continue working through the rest of the afternoon. As the sun starts to set, Yuzuru stands up, stretching his arms.

"It's about time. Should we get going?"

"Oh, right. Yuri went through with the idea, didn't she?"

Not long after everyone went home after the meeting, Yuri contacted us again and suggested we have a few practice sessions to train the members in hand-to-hand and close range combat. It would be better to at least be prepared rather than be taken by surprise and have no experience in self-defense. It took a while to get everyone's responses, but eventually we decided to have the first session this evening. I was asked to help instruct along with Yuri as I was the only one with actual experience.

"I think it was a good idea. At least I won't feel so helpless if I face one of them again. I think I was just lucky that first time," Yuzuru says.

"To be honest, I'm not very confident in myself even though I'm supposed to be quite good at it. I never thought much about it before. Somehow my body just moves on its own."

"Don't worry. That probably means you're already so good you just respond naturally without having to think about it. Just go along with the flow. Maybe it's best for you to demonstrate what you would do instead of trying to explain."

"Thanks. I'll try my best."


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17  
><strong>Otonashi Yuzuru

"Don't you think something is strange?" I ask Kanade.

"The place seems empty. Where did everyone go?"

Having spent the weekend training my hand to hand skills and helping Kanade with creating skills for the SSS, today is the first day we have come to school ever since we noticed the clear effects of the appearance of the afterlife in the real world. Takeyama did continue monitoring the situation, but did not report any unusual activity.

But somehow, the atmosphere around the school feels even stranger than last week. There seems to be nobody around. It's like the rest of the school didn't even bother coming out today. All the roads leading to it are deserted. The only people standing at the front gates are the handful of us from the SSS.

"So, what do you think?" Yuri asks no one in particular.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Hinata says. "Even though I've had this same feeling since last week."

"It feels like we've stepped into another dimension," observes Iwasawa. "The place is so deserted it's unnatural."

"That may be the case for all we know," Yuri replies. "Let's go and take a look around. This reminds me of what the afterlife school was like after everyone left."

We step into the school grounds as a group. It's so quiet our footsteps sound like pounding against the concrete. Everywhere I look, the grounds and the school building seem to be in pristine condition, which somehow feels even more unnerving given the current situation. Seeing some wear and deterioration would be more comforting as it would at least give the place a more natural abandoned look.

Entering the main building, we are greeted by nothing but an empty, plain hallway. The hallways here are never empty except long after school is over and they are bathed in the glow of the setting sun. Once again the echo of our footsteps give a very unnatural feeling in this familiar environment. Nobody says a word as we take in one empty classroom after another, looking for signs of other students but not really expecting to find any.

Eventually, we make our way to the student council room on the top floor. We've found nothing unusual so far, so we decide to discuss the current situation and our next move there.

"So, obviously, school is cancelled for today, and probably indefinitely," Yuri says, voicing out loud what everyone already figured out. "The question is, what happened?"

There is a long moment of silence as we all look around at each other, the same blank look on our faces. Nobody could have expected this when there hasn't been any unusual activity for the past several days. Apparently not even Takeyama is able to venture a guess.

"I wouldn't have expected anything better," Yuri continues, giving a sigh. "We'll have to…"

"Ah!" The sudden shout from Yui causes everyone in the room to jump. Nine pairs of eyes look towards Yui where she's staring out of the window, pointing at the classroom building opposite.

"What's wrong?" asks Hinata, walking over and peering over Yui's shoulder in the general direction she's pointing.

"I just saw a figure walk past the window!"

"Are you sure?" I ask, joining them by the window. The opposite building doesn't look any different now, but the way we are angled means that it's impossible to see anyone in the room unless they walk or stand right beside one of the windows. It does seem unusual that someone else has appeared though, after finding the grounds and this entire building deserted.

"I'm sure!" Yui insists. "It felt like he was staring straight into this room. It was a little creepy now that I think about it."

"He must have known we came in here then. There's no reason he would pick the student council room window out of so many to stare at," Yuri says. "Especially since the school is deserted now. We should go and see if we can catch him while he's still there. One person shouldn't be hard to manage."

"Wait!" I exclaim. Somehow this doesn't feel right to me. "What if his intention was to lure us over there all along? Won't we be playing straight into his hands if we all go at once?"

"There's no point staying here and doing nothing either," Hinata puts in. "At least we'll have a lead to go on if we manage to catch that person. None of us have had direct contact with those mysterious characters outside of being attacked. We may be able to get some information from him."

"But we don't know their combat capabilities yet!" I protest. "The last two encounters may have been due to luck for all we know, because they were still somewhat sluggish at the time. How do we know we have the chance to restrain him?"

"Don't worry. Kanade-chan and I will go together," Yuri volunteers. "We have the best chances of success that way."

"In that case, I'm going too," I say. "At least I'll be able to provide some support."

"Some of us will stay here then, and the rest will keep some distance while observing you, in case your concern about this being a trap is true," Hinata suggests. "If things go wrong, we'll find a way to get you out."

"Sounds good enough," Yuri agrees. "Well then, is everyone ready? Let's go!"

* * *

><p>Sorry for the wait and thank you all for the reviews and comments in my period of silence. As promised I haven't forgotten about this story, but I've been in a bit of a slump lately, so if the story starts getting a bit awkward do let me know. I'm already partway through a couple of the coming chapters, it's just that I feel they haven't come out the way I would have liked. Do let me know your opinions of this chapter. Thank you.<p> 


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18  
><strong>Tachibana Kanade

We run into the opposite building, Yuri taking the lead with the rest of us following close behind. At first, the atmosphere here doesn't feel much different from the main building we came from – unnaturally empty and devoid of signs of life.

However, we have barely finished climbing the first flight of stairs before I sense something unusual about the hallway that stretches before us. The usual short hallway with classrooms on one side and windows overlooking the main grounds on the other side have disappeared, replaced by an impossibly long one with seemingly countless others branching off on either side. There's no way the building can physically accommodate this new layout. It must have been altered in some way, most likely to throw us off.

Yuri had stopped briefly out of surprise, and turns around to address the rest of us.

"Don't let your guard down. Anything could happen if they can do this to the building. Stay close."

She heads straight down the hallway, with me following a few steps behind. Every branch we pass looks exactly alike. It would be extremely easy to get lost in this labyrinth we're not careful… I hope Yuri knows where she's going.

I turn around to check if everyone is still keeping up. Most of them seem to be busy looking at the hallways we pass, and Yuzuru appears to be counting the number we have passed so far. Satisfied that nobody is lost, which should be impossible as we haven't made any turns yet, I turn to the front again to keep an eye on Yuri.

And stop short in confusion.

Yuri is nowhere in sight. I was sure I could still hear her footsteps when I was looking back, but now there is no sound to be heard. Yuzuru and Hisako have stopped as well and are standing beside me.

"What happened?" Hisako asks, looking every bit as lost as I feel.

"No idea," I answer.

"She didn't make any turns, right?" Yuzuru says. "She couldn't have just disappeared. The same mechanism that changed this floor's layout could have done something we didn't see when we weren't paying attention."

"Then what should we do now?" Hisako asks.

"Let's continue, but more slowly. Keep an eye out for Yuri along the way. This feels more like a maze than an ambush set-up. She can't be too far away."

We move on at a slower pace, with Yuzuru taking the lead this time. Having turned into one of the hallways branching off from the main one, it's obvious now that the whole layout was meant to confuse anyone passing through. Doors leading to identical classrooms line the walls, and even more hallways branch off this one. Just attempting to understand how this is possible makes me feel like my head is about to explode.

After what feels like hours, but couldn't be more than ten minutes or so, I can feel my concentration slipping. Seeing the same rooms and monochromatic walls over and over has caused my mind to wander, even though I intended to look for any inconsistencies in the strangely identical rooms and hallways that would indicate someone else has been there.

Just as I'm trying to gather my thoughts, I feel a disturbance in the air in front of me and I quickly look back up in front of me, just in time to see some kind of screen materializing between Yuzuru and me, blocking him from sight. The screen then extends forward, literally melting back into the hallway that was there before, except that now Yuzuru is nowhere in sight. It all happened so quickly that I could barely register the events before I'm left staring down the empty hallway.

Hisako moves forward, standing beside me. "You saw that, right?"

"Yes."

My mind is racing now, trying to make sense of what I saw, which I assume is similar to what happened to Yuri. Some kind of translucent screen appeared between Yuzuru and me, partially blocking my view. Immediately after, it rippled and extended forward, causing enough disturbance that everything was effectively opaque, like how ripples in a clear stream temporarily blocks a clear view of the bottom. When everything finally reformed into the hallway before, Yuzuru was nowhere in sight. The fact that it blocked my view ahead first instead of targeting Yuzuru directly makes me think that it may be based on illusion. If this complex maze is just an illusion designed to confuse us, then getting out may be simpler than it looks. I just need to figure out how to beat it. Yuzuru and Yuri may also be close by, but separated by what we all think are solid walls. Sound must also be dampened because we would be able to hear each other's footsteps otherwise. In the end I'm trying just as hard to convince myself that they are both alright, as no good would come out of panicking right now.

"What should we do now?"

Hisako's question snaps me back to the present. What _should_ we do? So far, it seems to be separating the lead person from the rest of the group. If the intention is to split the group apart, then there should be one way to prevent that now that there are only two of us left.

"Stay beside me. So far they only seem to have split the lead person from the rest of the group. If the illusion only works along the width of the hallway, we should be able to stay together this way."

Once again we continue walking, holding onto each other's hands to keep from being separated, while I run my hands along the walls to see if any of them turn out to be fake. At the same time, I can't help wondering how Yuzuru and Yuri are doing. What did they think when they found out they were separated from us? If they didn't see what I just saw, would they figure out how the rest of us disappeared? Would they be able to find their way out?

"Hey, Tachibana-san."

"Hmm?" I turn around to see Hisako looking at me.

"I realized I never really got to know you well before. You were always the enemy figure when we were still on active diversion duty. But after seeing you these few days, I don't think you're a bad person at all. You value everyone a lot too, don't you?"

"You could say that. I didn't mix with many people before, but after everything wound down, I found myself having fun with everyone who remained for the last few hours. I wished I could have gotten to know everyone else better too."

"You're quite close with Otonashi, aren't you? And I can tell Yuri likes you a lot too."

I don't know how to comment on this. She's quite right in some ways, after all.

Suddenly my hand goes right through the wall. This is proof that illusions are used to disguise the true layout of this floor then. We step through the wall and suddenly I recognize where I am again. We must have been lucky to find the one false wall that leads to the stairwell heading up. I feel a little reluctant to continue without finding Yuzuru and Yuri first, but how long would it take to find the stairs again if we went back? I have nothing on me to mark the location of the fake wall, and even if I did, can I be sure that nothing would erase it after we leave?

"Tachibana-san, you go ahead. I'll go back and find the others, and join you as fast as I can."

"But… are you sure? Will you be fine going by yourself?"

"Don't worry about me," Hisako answers with a smile. "I won't have to worry about being separated from anyone for the moment. We know how to keep track of each other now anyway. Besides, I don't think I'll be much help if I go with you right now. We'll need Yuri if it comes down to fighting. You should be able to at least hold them back if you can't subdue them right away. I have faith in you."

Once again I find myself unable to argue. What she said is quite true, so I'll have to believe that she'll be able to find them and get back to the stairs safely. There's no reason to believe that anyone will be attacked on this floor after all this time.

"Ok. Good luck to you."

"See you later." With a wave, Hisako runs back the way we came and disappears behind the wall.


	19. Chapter 19

Wow, I can't believe it's been this long since my last update. Work life does take away most of the free time you used to have. First, I would like to thank everyone who has stuck with this story and my recent slow updates. I can't describe how it feels when I still get favourite and follow notifications even though it's been a very long time.

I _have _actually been sidetracked a little as I've been really into other fandoms lately, particularly Love Live! and Kantai Collection. I may try writing short one-shots for one of those eventually, but for now it's just a thought and there are no plans yet.

Anyway, I thought I'd go for a different perspective for once and write from a minor character's POV. This is my interpretation of what Hisako may be like in more detail, let me know what you think!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 19<br>**Hisako

I stand right in front of the wall leading back to the stairs and the only sure way I know of getting out of the maze that this floor has turned into, steeling myself to step back into the maze and possibly get lost again. I acted confident in front Kanade when I volunteered to stay behind and look for Yuri and Otonashi, but I'm actually quite nervous. It's true that I have nothing that I can use to mark the route back here, or even to mark this particular wall as the exit, short of taking off a piece of clothing.

Wait, that's actually possible. Like the girls in the SSS back in the afterlife, we also wear a variation of the sailor uniform in this school. Thanks to that, there's no need to remove any major article of clothing to leave a recognizable mark. I quickly untie my scarf and remove it. I make a special knot on one end, hoping that the illusion mechanism won't be able to copy it perfectly even if it can somehow replicate my scarf as well. There has been no evidence that it's sophisticated enough to simulate touch, but I want to be sure. I should at least be able to recognize the knot that I tied myself. I hope.

Leaving my scarf lying in front of the wall/exit, I turn away and hurry down the hall in the opposite direction from where we came, keeping my hands on the wall the whole time. I don't know how exactly I'm going to find either of them, so for now I'm just going to look for other hidden passages. We can't be in the same set of hallways or else we should have seen each other already.

I wander the hallways for what feels like ages, trying hard to keep in mind the number of branches I passed and the turns I took, and the location of the two fake walls I went through. For once I'm glad I'm on my own for now, because that means I can move at a jog without worrying about leaving anyone behind. I hope that I can find the others and meet up with Kanade faster this way. Somehow I'm starting to feel uneasy about letting her go ahead alone.

Just when I'm feeling overwhelmed by keeping track of the layout and considering slowing down and getting my bearings, I see a ripple form on one of the walls ahead. While I'm staring at it, Yuri materializes, seemingly melting through the wall. This is the first time I've seen anyone go through those walls, and I have to admit it looks a little unsettling. It just feels like going through empty space when I walk through, but it looks like the wall is somehow spitting a human body out from a distance.

Getting over my momentary feeling of revolt, I focus on the more important fact – I've found Yuri! It appears that she's focused on the opposite side of the hallway and hasn't noticed me behind her. I hurry up, calling her name.

"Yuri!"

She turns around, a look of surprise on her face.

"Hisako?"

I can't help it. As soon as I reach her, I throw my arms around Yuri in a tight hug. I hadn't even realized how anxious I have been until now, once the feeling of relief at finding Yuri overtakes me. I feel almost the same as I did the night of Otonashi's first operation as I watched Iwasawa disappear before my very eyes. But this time is different. Deep down, I am all too aware that anyone's disappearance could also mark the last time I ever see them alive. I was just trying to ignore the fact by convincing myself that both of them would be alright. I have to fight to keep tears of relief from flooding my eyes.

It's only after I've calmed down a little that I realize Yuri is patting my back reassuringly, repeating "It's alright, Hisako," over and over as if she's reassuring a child. Quickly recomposing myself, I let go of Yuri and take a step back. Yuri stands there unmoving, a soft smile on her face.

"Have you calmed down?"

"Yes."

I'm finding it a little hard to look Yuri in the eyes now. I can feel my face turning red from embarrassment. It's not often that I lose my composure like this. Not even Iwasawa or the rest of Girls Dead Monster have seen this side of me.

"Where's everyone else? Are they alright?"

Taking one more deep breath, I tell Yuri about everything that has happened since she got separated from us. I try to keep it as short as possible while continuing to search for other hidden hallways, undoubtedly confusing her along the way because of my rush and occasionally incoherent sentences. To her credit, she keeps up with me very well, not appearing to be thrown off by my unusual pace.

"Well, it sounds like something is actively trying to separate us from each other," Yuri observes, now keeping up beside me. "But why aren't we being attacked directly? Anyway, our priority now is to find Otonashi-kun and catch up with Kanade-chan as quickly as possible. Hisako, you can just remember how you got to the place where we met. I should be able to get us back there and then you can bring everyone back to the exit once we find Otonashi-kun."

"Thanks, that helps a lot."

That really takes a big burden off me. I can just focus on reminding myself of the first part of the route I took for now. But deep down, I can't help worrying about Kanade. How much time has passed since she went upstairs? I sincerely hope that she'll be fine by herself.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20  
><strong>Tachibana Kanade

I hurry up the stairs, leaving Hisako and everyone else behind. I want to believe that she will find Yuri and Yuzuru, that they will come in case something goes wrong, but deep down I'm still worried. I think that none of them are likely to be attacked at the moment, but the same can't be said for me. I've always defended myself well against the SSS before, and even against the Shadows when they appeared, but the memory of my Harmonics clones has always been at the back of my mind. It was the worst experience I ever had, and I give an involuntary shudder whenever I think about them.

My biggest concern is how and why my Harmonics clones gained enough self-consciousness to start acting on their own agenda. If it was a bug, they shouldn't have been able to act independently let alone with the unity to cooperate among themselves. But what if it wasn't a bug, and they were somehow manifestations of the same will that has led to these recent attacks on our group?

I step out onto the landing and look around. The top floor looks quite normal compared to the one below, so much that I wonder if what happened downstairs was all an illusion. But I know that something is waiting on this floor; I can feel a presence from the last classroom all the way from this end where the stairs are.

I don't even have time to consider what I should do next – I suddenly find myself walking towards the last classroom. Somehow that aura seems to be drawing me to it, and I can't stop my feet from moving. Everything appears to be in slow motion as empty classroom after empty classroom pass me by. These feel so peaceful, except for the presence that is getting stronger the closer I get to the end. Is it because I unconsciously know what is coming that the empty classrooms seem so attractively calm and soothing?

I finally stop at the last classroom door. Inside, a lone girl is sitting on the teacher's desk, legs and arms crossed with her head down so I cannot make out her features. For some reason she's wearing the school uniform, the same one I'm wearing now. She can't be a student here as well, can she?

I step into the classroom, and in one swift motion, the girl looks up and hops down from the desk. As she takes a few steps closer, I can immediately tell that something is off about her. She looks completely normal, with long brown hair hanging in front over her shoulders, and large eyes that would make her quite cute if it wasn't for the emptiness in them. It almost feels like there is no life behind them, and yet her movements so far have seemed normal, even graceful. This disconnect makes it a little unsettling to watch, yet I don't dare take my eyes off her.

We stare into each other's eyes for what feels like an eternity. All this time the girl has a disturbing, almost creepy half-smile on her lips, like she's somehow mocking me. This, coupled with her empty, soulless eyes, makes me feel more uneasy by the second, yet I don't tear my gaze from her. An ominous aura seems to have started emanating from her and is growing stronger as our staring match continues.

Suddenly she disappears from sight. I barely have time to register the blur indicating she had moved before turning on reflex, raising my arms up as quickly I can manage. I barely manage to block her incoming blow, and feel myself pushed back against the very teacher's desk she was sitting on not too long ago. She's definitely not normal if a barehanded punch like that can knock me so far back even when blocked.

She rushes straight at me again, but this time I'm ready. Activating Hand Sonic, I dodge to the side and immediately follow up with a horizontal swipe, but only connect with empty air. She's really fast, at least on par with the enhanced speed I'm getting from Angel Player. The only other person I remember who can trade blows with me on equal grounds is Yuri.

I feel movement coming from above me and quickly leap backwards, barely dodging an aerial axe kick. I stare at the dent in the floor as she slowly looks up from her kneeling position, still wearing that mocking half-smile on her face. This is bad. I still can't read her movements properly, and I can't do much if I'm being pressured into the defensive all the time. Time to go on the attack.

I dash forward with a cross slash, but she easily deflects both my blades. Barehanded. Refusing to be fazed by this, I continue with a flurry of slashes from all possible angles, but she once again she easily blocks half of them and evades the rest.

In another sudden move, she disappears from sight and I feel her presence coming in from my right.

This is getting nowhere. I need to get a hit in. I spin sideways and continue straight into a wide spinning slash, hoping to catch her before she has time to stop her attack and block or evade. Instead I feel my blades connect with empty air. Having lost sight of her, I stop and quickly hop backwards to assess the situation. I spot her standing all the way across the room from where I am now. How'd she get all the way over there so quickly? Even counting the extra moment it took me to stop my slash and back off, she moved too far in such a short time considering she was charging straight at me right before.

In another blur of movement, she's suddenly on my left again. I use both hands to deflect the blow and return with a flurry of slashes. We trade blows for several moments with nobody managing to get a hit in for a while. Realizing that I'll probably wear out first if I continue facing her head-on, I decide to take a different approach.

"Guard Skill: Delay."

I sense something is wrong when the girl keeps her eye directly on me, even though I suddenly changed my trajectory while leaving the afterimages that would usually confuse anyone trailing in my wake. In an effort to remain unpredictable, I end my dash a little early and start my attack before the skill effect ends. This puts my body through additional pressure from the already high stress that the acceleration of the delay effect causes, but I cannot wait until I slow down to attack.

I once again feel my blades connect with empty air. I've barely slowed down before a sharp pain in my side causes my mind to go blank and I feel myself flying backwards through the air.

* * *

><p><strong>And there's the start of the first extended action scene. Describing this from a fighter's perspective isn't easy. Getting the feeling of a fast-paced battle right is different from the shorter sequences before. How was it? Do tell me your thoughts!<strong>


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21  
><strong>Otonashi Yuzuru

"Kanade!"

I burst into the room just in time to see Kanade slam into the wall at the back of the class. The whole classroom is a mess. Bits and pieces of the chairs and desks lie all over the place, with the only thing seemingly intact being the teacher's desk in front of the room. I barely register the girl standing immobile further inside. The only thing on my mind now is getting to Kanade as quickly as possible.

"Move, Otonashi-kun!" I hear Yuri's voice through the haze in my mind. "I'll keep her busy!"

I hurry across the classroom as fast as I can, making sure to keep close to the wall and far away from the action. I faintly hear the swish of what I take to be Yuri's combat knives but can make out no indicators that they are connecting with anything but air.

I reach Kanade who's still lying motionless on the floor. Quickly checking her for injuries and vital signs, I feel a heavy sense of relief to find that she seems to have suffered no lasting damage. Carefully picking her up, I take a quick look to make sure that the girl's attention is still on Yuri, and hurry back the way I came.

Hisako wastes no time ushering me out of the area and back towards the stairwell as soon as I reach the door. None of us says a word until we reach the top of the stairs.

"Go down and wait for us, Otonashi. The lower floors should be safer. I'm going back to get Yuri."

With that, she turns around and hurries back to the classroom where Yuri is still undoubtedly fighting the mysterious girl. Part of me wants to go back and help her out, but my concern for Kanade, still motionless in my arms, leads me to go down as Hisako asked. I need to have faith in Yuri as she _is_ one of the most capable hand-to-hand fighters in the group.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, I notice that the maze of corridors that was here probably just minutes ago is gone. In its place is the regular hallway of the school, looking as if nothing had ever happened. Not bothering to look for another classroom, I lay Kanade down on the floor. It's quite a miracle that she seems to have suffered no serious injuries, considering the state that the classroom was in.

I hear an echoing crash from upstairs and look back up, feeling worry wash over me again. What if the same thing that happened to Kanade has happened to Yuri? If Kanade, who I used to think was near-invincible, got beaten like this, I don't think even Yuri can win alone.

"Yuzuru?"

My head snaps downwards at the sound of this familiar voice. Kanade is already propping herself up on her elbows, and struggling to get into a sitting position.

I hurry to stop her.

"Kanade, how are you feeling? You probably shouldn't be getting up so quickly."

"I'm fine," she replies, grabbing my shoulder and using me to pull herself up instead. "Just hit my head a little. Where are the others?"

"Yuri's still upstairs fighting that girl. She distracted her for me to get you out of there."

"We have to get her out!" Kanade's abrupt response took me by surprise. She rarely, if ever, loses her cool. "That girl's not normal! I couldn't touch her. She's too fast and strong to be a normal person."

"Don't worry, Kanade-chan. I'm alright."

Once again a familiar voice comes from behind me. We turn around at the same time and look up the stairs.

Yuri is walking down the steps, supported by Hisako. She's a mess. She already has bruises all over and her uniform is torn and disheveled. Honestly she looks like she's in a worse state than Kanade is.

"She ran away. Jumped right out the window. Not before she gave me a good beating though," Yuri manages a weak smile that's quickly broken by a grimace. "Don't know why she'd do that. She had me cornered for good there."

"Don't strain yourself, Yuri," Hisako cuts in. "You can talk after you've had a good rest. Let's get you somewhere safe for now."

Suddenly weak with relief, all I can do is manage a smile and nod in agreement. Looking over at Kanade, I think she most likely feels the same way. This has gotten out of hand very quickly, and the best move now would be to regroup and reevaluate the situation. Thankfully, nothing unusual blocks our way out of the building and we head back to the student council room where Hinata and the others are waiting.

* * *

><p><strong>If anybody has noticed I've made some minor changes to the description of the story. I've done some reflecting and realized that as I've gone on with this, I've focused more and more on the story and action itself rather than romantic interactions between characters. I forgot if I mentioned this before, but this story has expanded further than I originally intended, partially because of my habit of not setting a definite outline or plan before writing. I've removed the romance genre and the Yuzuru x Kanade from the description to avoid further confusion. To those who started reading this looking for Yuzuru x Kanade romance, I apologize. I have some scenes between them in my mind but I haven't been able to fit them into the current storyline. Thank you once again to those who are still reading andor reviewing despite my extremely slow pace. I'm aware that I'm very inactive here even though this is my only story.**


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